The policy systems of geological information services in main developed countries and its characteristics

Information service policies are guidelines, fundamentals and approaches for the management and development of information services, as well as the guarantee of successfully implementing information services. In the process of information services, geological survey organizations of main developed countries, such as US Geological Survey (USGS), Canadian Geological Survey (CSC), Geoscience Australia (GA) and British Geological Survey (BGS), have formulated and executed a series of information service policies. These policies dictate the rules or guide almost all the actions of information services, including the service objects, content, pricing, partnership, information release, customer relationship and service quality. They have formed a complete policy system. This paper describes some characteristics of the policy systems of geological information services of the above-mentioned main developed countries from the following aspects: effects of information free acts and copyright on the geological information services, pricing policies and relatively complete price systems, regulation of information services with policies and standards to improve information service quality.