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0. Overview
The key objective of GEM’s Products and Services Strategy is to continue to make all information freely available, with an emphasis on open access, while at the same time assuring the sustainability of the organisation.
Although GEM has been continuously and generously supported by public and private institutions for more than 15 years, the development of products and services to meet the existing and future needs of the disaster risk reduction community requires additional support and funding, which GEM has sought through engaging in more institutional projects and through more investment in commercial products and services.
GEM’s products and services are released through different mechanisms depending on the product, and these can be simply categorised in three ways:
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open software, data and models (under different open license conditions described here);
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freely available software, data and models available for non-commercial, public good use, following a license request;
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commercial-use products and services (i.e. subject to a license fee).
It is worth underlining that all of GEM’s products are always available freely for non-commercial, public good use, regardless of the mechanism under which they are primarily released.
As a non-profit organisation, any revenue derived from commercial sales of products or services are reinvested to fund GEM’s core programmes (i.e. advancing capabilities in earthquake and multi-hazard risk, pioneering scientific risk assessment methods, and expanding risk and resilience applications to downstream users), with an emphasis on providing support to countries in the Global South
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This section provides detailed information on how to access GEM’s Open products (Part A) and License request products (Part B), including how to access these products for free. This section also contains specific explanations of the most common questions about GEM’s products and services.
A. Open Products
A.1 Where can I find and download the full list of GEM’s open products?
From the Products webpage (https://www.globalquakemodel.org/products), you can select to see a list of products with open licenses, as shown in the video below.
A.2 What are GEM’s top or flagship open products?
GEM’s flagship products are OpenQuake software and the Global Earthquake Hazard and Risk Models and Maps.
A.3 Why does GEM develop open products?
GEM develops open products to make high-quality scientific products in earthquake hazard and risk analysis readily available for public good. Most high-calibre software or data are closed/proprietary or very expensive. To break this barrier, GEM releases open products in order to promote access to and sharing of information, to promote collaboration and transparency, and thereby build trust among partners and the public.
A.4 What is an open product, and how does GEM define open?
An open product is a digital or technology-based product that is free of cost and accessible, though access may be governed by specific conditions of use. An open product can be a software (open source code), a scientific publication (open access) or a database (open data).
The GEM Foundation distributes open-source software and open data. With limited exceptions, intellectual products by the GEM Foundation are released with open licenses, such as the GNU AGPL for software and the Creative Commons licenses for creative contents, datasets and models. You can check the full details here.
A.5 What license types govern GEM’s open products? Can I use GEM’s open products for commercial purposes?
Many of GEM’s products are released under a CC BY-SA license. These products may be used commercially provided any distribution of derived products is attributed to the GEM Foundation (BY = by attribution) and they are redistributed with the same (SA = share-alike) license. If the license is CC BY-NC-SA, in addition, the product or its derivatives may not be used commercially (NC = non-commercial). You may request to use a GEM product under different license conditions (e.g. for commercial use) by filling in a License Request form (see Part B below).
GEM’s OpenQuake software and related tools are released under an AGPL license, which also has no commercial restrictions, and derived products may only be distributed under the same open license.
You can check the full details of our licensing terms here. In addition, please refer to GEM’s terms of use and licensing policy.
B. License Request Products
B.1 Why is GEM not providing all of its products openly?
Some of the more commercially attractive products (e.g. higher resolution datasets) are not made openly available, but are instead only shared through the signing of a license agreement. In this case, we grant access under a more restricted license that forbids distribution or disclosure and requires signing by GEM and the licensee in order to better assure accountability for the confidentiality of the information.
For commercial use of those products, GEM requests a commercial license fee to generate additional income to further support the development of free and open products. Nevertheless, all products that are made available for a fee are also available for free for non-commercial, public-good applications (i.e. academic, government or humanitarian projects, etc.).
B.2 What products are being offered for a fee?
From the Products webpage (https://www.globalquakemodel.org/products) you can select to see a list of products with NC (non-commercial) or custom licenses, as shown in the screenshot below. For commercial use of those products, GEM requests a commercial license fee to generate additional income to further support its mission.
B.3 How does GEM use the income from products made available for a fee?
Revenue generated from commercial licenses is reinvested in public good activities with particular emphasis on the Global South.
B.4 I’m a government officer and working on a DRR project and the product I need is not openly available. How can I obtain that product?
All products on the GEM website have a License Request button. In this request we ask you to provide details on the requesting party, the License agreement signatory and a description of the purpose of the request. An example is shown below. GEM Secretariat will contact you for further evaluation of your request, and the next steps.
B.5 I am an academic conducting research on earthquake hazard and risk in my country and the product I need is not openly available. How can I obtain that product?
See the response to B.4.
B.6 We’re a humanitarian organization in the field of DRR and the product we need is not openly available. Can we obtain that product?
See the response to B.4.
