What happens with project data?

[bent]

The other day I read an article somewhere about the RB80 and that it's supposedly the unit that was used to lay more line than any other RB (or however you wanna phrase it). AFAIK, lots of line in France was laid by the Brits and the Frenchies, hardly any EOLs where laid by EKPP (which are the ones that used to use the RB80).
That got me wondering about what happens to all the project data and how anyone can know how much exploration is actually being done. I'm under the impression that most data just stays with the person or group who laid the line.

When I was still allowed to dive one of the largest caves in Europe, one of the main exploration dudes showed me some sort of centerline map of that cave. Looked amazing. I guess that map had 10 km or more of line on there. The 'official' map is nowhere near as extensive. Now my question is, how would anyone know about this or any other projects unless you know the explorer of the cave or one of his buddies? So, would that mean if one of the explorers gets hit by a bus or the group leaves the hobby (which it seems happened to EKPP) the data is just lost? Is everything tracked in the States? Pretty sure in europe it's not.

As a reply I'm expecting at least one one-liner from Draker and Bob in this thread.

Also, everyone is allowed to answer even if you don't 100% agree with me on any given political topic.