Free Public Geodata Services - Theoretical Studies of Approach in Lithuania and Poland

Public availability of the data allows to apply it for educational purposes. University students both in Lithuania and Poland use public services provided by geoportals to tackle different spatial tasks. Evaluation of services provided by geoportal.lt and geoportal.gov.pl has revealed that some information in the Help section is missing, while in different cadastral registers data discrepancies were detected. The quality and availability of free geodata services of the Lithuanian geoportal were positively evaluated by 48.68 percent of Lithuanian students, negatively -- by 37.57 percent, 13.76 percent of students had no opinion. The quality of spatial data and services by the Polish geoportal were appreciated by 50.30 percent of Polish students, negatively -- by 28.31 percent, 14.81 percent had no opinion. It can be concluded that free public spatial data services are readily available to users, easily understandable, adaptable to students' practical activities and applicable in a variety of tasks.