Hi Landon,
I recommend contacting Open Data Consortium
(http://www.opendataconsortium.org/) project organizer Bruce Joffe at
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> or
510-238-9771. He's been very involved in getting counties to release
their data. I'm sure he'll have some info about license agreements.
Regards,
Jennifer
Landon Blake wrote:
I’m thinking about writing a letter to my County’s GIS department,
which releases data under a very restrictive license agreement. The
license agreement restriction that I the biggest problem with is:
“GIS Product is not to be used for any purpose other than that
indicated on the application. The
applicant shall not disclose, lease, sell, distribute, make, transfer,
or assign the GIS product or
engage in any other transaction which has the effect of transferring
the right to use for all or part of
the GIS Product without prior written consent of the County of San
Joaquin Community
Development Department.”
This effectively kills my ability to distribute “public data”, and it
may kill my ability to distribute other data sets build from this
public data.
The County GIS Department has a link to the Attorney General’s opinion
that concludes County’s must make their parcel GIS data available.
(The County posted it on the website as a justification for the fees
which they charge for the data. I don’t have a problem with these
fees, although I think there a little pricey.)
The Attorney General opinion mentions the California Public Records
Act several times, and concludes that parcel data maintained by the
County is subject to the provisions of the act. The opinion does not
appear to discuss license agreements specifically. I’m wondering if
any of you are aware of a provision in the California Public Records
Act that deals with license agreements for public data subject to the
act. Can my County be forced to release data under the act, but then
place all sorts of restrictions on the use of that data with a license
agreement?
It would be good to cite a law or recent court case explaining that
the license agreement or the restrictive provisions of it are not
allowed under California law. I’m sure that my letter will head
directly from the GIS department to my County’s legal department.
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
**Landon Blake**
Project Surveyor
California PLS 8489
Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268
Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
711 North Pershing Avenue
Stockton, California, 95203
*Warning:
*Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against
defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader
is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error,
please notify the sender immediately.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Geowanking mailing list
[email protected]
http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
--
Jennifer Strahan, GIS Specialist
GreenInfo Network - www.greeninfo.org -
Information and Mapping in the Public Interest
**As of Oct. 13, 2008 we have a new address**
564 Market Street, Suite 510
San Francisco CA 94104
Phone: 651-917-0191
Fax: 415-979-0371
Email: [email protected]
_______________________________________________
Geowanking mailing list
[email protected]
http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
