EARTH OBSERVATION DATA PRICING POLICY

Pricing policy for Earth observation data continues to be a problem fo r both supplier organizations and user organizations: there are incomp atible or conflicting pricing policies used by different organizations in the Earth observation sector. This paper analyses the issues in Ea rth observation data pricing in two ways. First, it analyses the polic y foundations which underlie Earth observation data pricing, such as r eturn on investment, the basis of pricing policy and access conditions . Second, it presents five policy options for the pricing of Earth obs ervation data, namely free data, marginal cost price, market driven pr ice, two tier pricing and rebalancing of government funding. The paper concludes with an analysis of the forces acting on Earth observation data pricing policy.