4 ms·

What a waste of tax payer money.

Svip 12y ago
The intent of this data release is to help children explore Denmark in a virtual environment in class. This is to help Danish children at least to better grasp Danish geography.
- bananas 12y ago
  Isn't that what Google Earth is for as an example? Putting it in Minecraft is a hack and a PR thing, nothing more.
  - Svip 12y ago
    I won't presume that their arguments are completely air tight in regards to its educational usage. But I'd argue that exploring Denmark from a more close up view (than a map) is more appealing to school children. Google's Street View can only go so far.
  - fetbaffe 12y ago
    Yes, it is PR. Read the FAQ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ofte-stillede-spoergsmaal/ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ofte-stillede-spoerg... Hvorfor lukker serveren den 23. oktober 2014? ’Danmarks frie geodata i en Minecraftverden’ er et demonstrationsprojekt, hvor Geodatastyrelsen vil vise de mangfoldige muligheder i brugen af geodata. Derfor er serveren kun midlertidig. Der vil fortsat være mulighed for at downloade mindre bidder af Danmark på Kortforsyningen efter denne dato. It is a demonstration project to show the possibilities of geodata. The minecraft server closes 23 of October 2014.
- fetbaffe 12y ago
  There is nothing wrong with the intention, the problem is result. I hope I'm wrong, but on my experience of these kind of things is that the popularity is short lived. Soon, some new idea comes along and removes the just implemented old new way. How about a school trip instead?
  - bobbles 12y ago
    So using already acquired data and a system to put that data into a game world is a worse use of money than your idea of what.. taking every school child in the country of a tour of the entire country?
    - fetbaffe 12y ago
      Much better. The minecraft world cant replace the real world. The argument to use this for education is shown already to be false because the minecraft server closes this fall.
      - icebraining 12y ago
        The minecraft world cant replace the real world. Neither can maps, should we stop making them? What a ridiculous argument.
        fetbaffe 12y ago
        Yes, if the maps only worked until 23 of October 2014.
        icebraining 12y ago
        Then, if the server was left running, you'd be OK with it, right? Besides, only their server stops working, you can still download the data and run your own for as long as you'd like: http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-data/ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-data/
        fetbaffe 12y ago
        Still no. I do silly replies when people assume too much instead of asking first. I todays society people just making up other peoples arguments to fit their agenda.
bananas 12y ago
I came here to write this but am quite surprised that other people don't agree with it and downvoted you. These agencies aren't paid from our tax money to produce toys - they are there to provide a cost efficient service where possible. I have the same worries about the entire gov.uk rework. Neat hack yes, but this is government, not private enterprise or personal time. In the UK we almost called for the hanging of an MP who bought a duck house on expenses and I'm sure these "neat hacks" over time have cost a lot more.
- zimpenfish 12y ago
  If you go down the "government should be cost efficient" route, you end up with things like [/PPI/] which, whilst making the government more cost efficient, has thoroughly damaged many vital UK services. Edit: By PPI, I meant PPP/PFI. I conflated the two into one incorrect abbreviation. Apologies.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    Indeed, I can imagine if every small bit of work had to have a full analysis of ROI etc. then the whole bureaucracy intended to prevent the wasting of money would end us costing far more than could ever be saved. If the Ordnance Survey want to do even more cool stuff with a tiny bit of my taxpayers money then they have my blessing.
  - lmm 12y ago
    What are you talking about? PPI was a private-industry thing. PPP is regarded as a failure partly because it damaged service provision but mostly because it didn't actually save money.
    - zimpenfish 12y ago
      You're right - I've conflated PPP and PFI in my brain there. Apologies.
  - bananas 12y ago
    That's total horse shit. PPP was not about government efficiency not has it improved efficiency. PPP was about trading a short immediate cost (infrastructure build) against a long one (rent). It was a cash flow measure to knock as much deficit on the head up front and reduce unemployment. This was purely a political measure for the government to "not look as shit". Of course in the long term it's a shitty deal for citizens, lots of political cash back-handers were taken and we've now got long-term rents to pay and stuck with low grade contract outfits. But that's what happens when you put capitalism and socialism in the same pot and stir it.
prof_hobart 12y ago
As the link is down, did it cover how much taxpayers' money was spent producing it?
Squarel 12y ago
I think the amount of taxpayer money spent on this is negligible in the scheme of things, and far cheaper than an ARCGIS license for every child in the country to explore virtual geodata with instead.
DanBC 12y ago
What a useful bit of soft power. Denmark is being talked about on an influential Internet forum. People on HN usually complain about how bad governments are at makig data open. Here is an example of a government making data open and doing fun silly things with it. The cost ofthe project is probably minimal compared to other government spending and has had a reasonable impact. The children using this Mincraft world will grow up to do other neat things.
- fetbaffe 12y ago
  That is exactly the same argument that was made when Sweden made a virtual embassy in Second Life. Not convinced that it benefited anyone except the programmers. And also, I'm not making an argument against open data.

Svip 12y ago

The intent of this data release is to help children explore Denmark in a virtual environment in class. This is to help Danish children at least to better grasp Danish geography.

bananas 12y ago
Isn't that what Google Earth is for as an example? Putting it in Minecraft is a hack and a PR thing, nothing more.
- Svip 12y ago
  I won't presume that their arguments are completely air tight in regards to its educational usage. But I'd argue that exploring Denmark from a more close up view (than a map) is more appealing to school children. Google's Street View can only go so far.
- fetbaffe 12y ago
  Yes, it is PR. Read the FAQ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ofte-stillede-spoergsmaal/ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ofte-stillede-spoerg... Hvorfor lukker serveren den 23. oktober 2014? ’Danmarks frie geodata i en Minecraftverden’ er et demonstrationsprojekt, hvor Geodatastyrelsen vil vise de mangfoldige muligheder i brugen af geodata. Derfor er serveren kun midlertidig. Der vil fortsat være mulighed for at downloade mindre bidder af Danmark på Kortforsyningen efter denne dato. It is a demonstration project to show the possibilities of geodata. The minecraft server closes 23 of October 2014.
fetbaffe 12y ago
There is nothing wrong with the intention, the problem is result. I hope I'm wrong, but on my experience of these kind of things is that the popularity is short lived. Soon, some new idea comes along and removes the just implemented old new way. How about a school trip instead?
- bobbles 12y ago
  So using already acquired data and a system to put that data into a game world is a worse use of money than your idea of what.. taking every school child in the country of a tour of the entire country?
  - fetbaffe 12y ago
    Much better. The minecraft world cant replace the real world. The argument to use this for education is shown already to be false because the minecraft server closes this fall.
    - icebraining 12y ago
      The minecraft world cant replace the real world. Neither can maps, should we stop making them? What a ridiculous argument.
      - fetbaffe 12y ago
        Yes, if the maps only worked until 23 of October 2014.
        icebraining 12y ago
        Then, if the server was left running, you'd be OK with it, right? Besides, only their server stops working, you can still download the data and run your own for as long as you'd like: http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-data/ http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/download-data/
        fetbaffe 12y ago
        Still no. I do silly replies when people assume too much instead of asking first. I todays society people just making up other peoples arguments to fit their agenda.

bananas 12y ago

I came here to write this but am quite surprised that other people don't agree with it and downvoted you. These agencies aren't paid from our tax money to produce toys - they are there to provide a cost efficient service where possible. I have the same worries about the entire gov.uk rework. Neat hack yes, but this is government, not private enterprise or personal time. In the UK we almost called for the hanging of an MP who bought a duck house on expenses and I'm sure these "neat hacks" over time have cost a lot more.

zimpenfish 12y ago
If you go down the "government should be cost efficient" route, you end up with things like [/PPI/] which, whilst making the government more cost efficient, has thoroughly damaged many vital UK services. Edit: By PPI, I meant PPP/PFI. I conflated the two into one incorrect abbreviation. Apologies.
- arethuza 12y ago
  Indeed, I can imagine if every small bit of work had to have a full analysis of ROI etc. then the whole bureaucracy intended to prevent the wasting of money would end us costing far more than could ever be saved. If the Ordnance Survey want to do even more cool stuff with a tiny bit of my taxpayers money then they have my blessing.
- lmm 12y ago
  What are you talking about? PPI was a private-industry thing. PPP is regarded as a failure partly because it damaged service provision but mostly because it didn't actually save money.
  - zimpenfish 12y ago
    You're right - I've conflated PPP and PFI in my brain there. Apologies.
- bananas 12y ago
  That's total horse shit. PPP was not about government efficiency not has it improved efficiency. PPP was about trading a short immediate cost (infrastructure build) against a long one (rent). It was a cash flow measure to knock as much deficit on the head up front and reduce unemployment. This was purely a political measure for the government to "not look as shit". Of course in the long term it's a shitty deal for citizens, lots of political cash back-handers were taken and we've now got long-term rents to pay and stuck with low grade contract outfits. But that's what happens when you put capitalism and socialism in the same pot and stir it.

prof_hobart 12y ago

As the link is down, did it cover how much taxpayers' money was spent producing it?

Squarel 12y ago

I think the amount of taxpayer money spent on this is negligible in the scheme of things, and far cheaper than an ARCGIS license for every child in the country to explore virtual geodata with instead.

DanBC 12y ago

What a useful bit of soft power. Denmark is being talked about on an influential Internet forum. People on HN usually complain about how bad governments are at makig data open. Here is an example of a government making data open and doing fun silly things with it. The cost ofthe project is probably minimal compared to other government spending and has had a reasonable impact. The children using this Mincraft world will grow up to do other neat things.

fetbaffe 12y ago
That is exactly the same argument that was made when Sweden made a virtual embassy in Second Life. Not convinced that it benefited anyone except the programmers. And also, I'm not making an argument against open data.