Thanks Puneet, and no offense taken to RIch's comments ;) My point was specific to oil spill GIS data and should not be interpreted as a general claim about open data. I know rich and many others are familiar with my multi-year odyssey to crack the vault on open data in the world of transit (still far from complete).
to the original post, I'm equally furious that USCG and other agencies don't have access to their own data, but the value of that data (oil spill) is significantly greater to people laying containment booms than developers (unless of course you are planning a rogue oil cleanup...). == Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc 690 Fifth Street Suite 200 :: San Francisco CA 94107 T.415.946.8170 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog<http://urbanmapping.com/blog> On 15 Jun 2010, at 15:45, P Kishor wrote: On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 4:00 PM, Rich Gibson <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Ian, The key lesson of open geospatial data is that we don't know what creative things people will do with open data. Out of respect for you I will try and soften this, but your writing 'there's nothing you can 'do' with it to change the state of affairs' represents a lack of cluefulness on your part. >From his posts here, and from what I have learned of Urban Mapping, I think Ian is a great guy, far from clueless, so I would love to hear why he said there is nothing one can do with open data. I do agree with Rich... the beauty of open data is that we don't know what can be done with data in the future. It is open to all sorts of possibilities, all sorts of creative applications. It is this serendipitous use that makes open so compelling. Rich On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 11:34 AM, Ian White <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: you are kidding, right? if there was ever a need for open geospatial data, this is most definitely not it. much as it would be nice to have, there's nothing you can 'do' with it to change the state of affairs. contrast this with access to transit, crime, base map, environment, etc........ == Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc 690 Fifth Street Suite 200 :: San Francisco CA 94107 T.415.946.8170 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog<http://urbanmapping.com/blog> On 15 Jun 2010, at 11:15, gis pundit wrote: This is very disturbing. If ever there was a need for open geospatial data, this is it. I wonder what possessed the Federal & State Agencies to agree to upload their only copies of the location data their responders are collecting in the field to a BP-controlled GIS server? If it wasn't so illegal, I'd say that BP corporate firewall was just begging for a few good hackers to "fix" this problem :) -------- Original Message -------- Subject: FW: Letter on BP Oil Spill GIS Appears, Disappears Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:17:14 -0400 TO: NWCG GIS Task Group FYI http://www.scientificblogging.com/chatter_box/bp_gis_and_mysterious_vanishing_open_letter http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/54563 Introduction: Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey, both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professionals with 40 years combined GIS experience, were the primary architects of the GIS Unit and lab at Incident Command Post (ICP) Houma. Mr. Stephens has 20 years GIS experience, teaching GIS to organizations worldwide, and is an expert in GIS deployment, start-up, training and workflow design. Mr. Humphrey has 20 years background in Oil Spill GIS with Texas General Land Office, where he was on the development team of an award-winning oil spill GIS. He has also been an instructor since 1994 at the National Spill Control School at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. The ‘Spill School’ is named in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. **----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------** Deepwater Horizon GIS Data Concerns From: Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey Date: June 9, 2010 Subject: BP control of GIS data To Whom It May Concern: Executive Summary This letter is being submitted to make it known that several key factors of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Structure (ICS) are not being met in the Unified Command process of the BP Deepwater Horizon Incident. Specifically regarding the treatment of Geographic Information System (GIS) data, current configuration and process limit, or exclude completely, the flow of information about the extent and status of the disaster to government entities, emergency responders, and the public. GIS is essential to the oil spill response effort and to the recovery of public resources. Almost every map and geographic display representing the Deepwater Horizon Incident is sourced by GIS data. Current GIS management processes indicate that BP is treating GIS data as proprietary information, and these data are currently being stored behind the BP corporate firewall. It is our understanding that public agencies, for example, The US Fish and Wildlife Service and The Louisiana National Guard, are literally submitting the only copy of agency field data, via wireless-enabled mobile GPS devices, directly to a BP GIS server behind the corporate firewall in Houston. Examples of these data are; dead bird and fish locations with photos, boom placement, engineered construction barriers, including dates, and other descriptive information and photos. State Emergency Operation Center (EOC) staff, Parish EOC staff, and other Emergency Responders and Recovery Specialists do not have access to these GIS datasets, contrary to all NIMS guidance, protocols and principles. Per NIMS, redundancy of incident information is to be managed jointly, and fully accessible by the Federal On Scene Coordinator (FOSC), the State On Scene Coordinator (SOSC), and the Responsible Party. Technology allows implementation of this design to occur instantaneously and automatically (see attached diagram). The intent of this letter is to inform The President, the National Incident Commander, the FOSC, the SOSC, and the public, of the need to establish and enforce NIMS compliant access policies over all Deepwater Horizon oil spill GIS data. The Geospatial Intelligence Officer (GIO) and the GIS Unit Leader, who proposed NIMS-compliant GIS architecture to Unified Command, and supported access to these GIS data, have been removed from the Houma ICP by BP IT department managers. <ATT00001..txt> _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org -- Puneet Kishor http://www.punkish.org Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org Charter Member, Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org Science Commons Fellow, http://sciencecommons.org/about/whoweare/kishor Nelson Institute, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Assertions are politics; backing up assertions with evidence is science =======================================================================
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