Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Steven Johnson]

It does appear that these copyright clauses exist to protect the local
jurisdiction from any liability regarding (mis-)use of the data. Back in my
paleo-GIS days, we were always concerned that someone would mis-construe
the data and hold the County liable and were careful to put a disclaimer on
all maps and digital products. But I think in most jurisdictions a lot of
those concerns have gone by the wayside, just like the expectation of
generating revenue from the data, as Elliott mentions.

Cheers,
SEJ
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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Elliott Plack]

Maryland has a pretty broad public data law as well. I have not read it
entirely, but it does appear this kind of release would be covered. I spoke
with my program manager on the matter, and he is taking a *wait and
see* approach
to the license situation. Baltimore County wants to protect itself from
liability. It is no longer interested in any direct economic benefits of
providing (selling) the data, but rather the wider scale benefits. If the
county gets requests about the license or copyright like have been raised,
he can take it to our law office and get a decision.

Therefore I encourage the community to send inquiries about the nature of
the ownership to my program manager and cc me. That will help me convince
the department that taking a firm stance on the license is important to the
community. Send inquiries to g...@baltimorecountymd.gov and cc me
epl...@baltimorecountymd.gov

Thanks again,

Elliott

PS: I thank Serge and the Imports US group for having me on the hangout.


On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 2:03 PM, stevea  wrote:

> **
>
> >>Conclusion:  explicit law may already give us permission to use (our)
> data any way we see fit, simply by asking for them.  Read up on >>your
> state's laws on Public Records, see if there are any court decisions
> affirming, and armed with this knowledge, ask away.  Happy mapping!
>
> Good point. RCFP just published a guide to open government records law for
> all 50 states, which you can find here here: 
> http://tinyurl.com/m6leum5The guide is simply the 
> text of state legislation, so you won't find
> anything in the way of interpretation or application. For that you'd better
> look closer to home.
>
> In Virginia we have a public records law that places most public records
> in the public domain, but interestingly (or frustratingly) every
> jurisdiction in the state asserts copyright over the data. Here is the text
> of that copyright:
>
> "*Information shown on these maps is derived from public records that are
> constantly undergoing change and do not replace a site survey, and is not
> warranted for content or accuracy.**   * The County does not guarantee
> the positional or thematic accuracy of the GIS data. The GIS data or
> cartographic digital files are not a legal representation of any of the
> features in which it depicts, and disclaims any assumption of the legal
> status of which it represents. Data contained on this Web page/site is
> Copyright © York County, Virginia. The GIS data are proprietary to the
> County, and title to this information remains in the County. All applicable
> common law and statutory rights in the GIS data including,but not limited
> to, rights in copyright, shall and will remain the property of the County."
>
> My take is that this language was crafted in the early days of paleo-GIS
> and was intended as a CYA by local governments who feared getting sued for
> inaccurate data. I'm not sure of the implications for importing into
> OpenStreetMap. Insights welcome.
>
>
>
>
> OK, Steven, here are my insights.  Again, I am not an attorney, just a
> reasonably informed Citizen, and I most certainly do not know everything in
> this realm.
>
> It would seem Virginia has a situation similar to California's a few years
> ago, BEFORE California Supreme Court's 2009 decision:  one where statutory
> law (California Public Records Act, part of California's Government Code)
> conflicted with a copyright/Terms of Use by a public entity (Santa Clara
> County).  The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) requested
> geographic data from the County of Santa Clara free of the County's onerous
> copyright and/or Terms of Use (asserting it under CPRA law, as enacted),
> the County refused, so CFAF sued, demanding as its remedy access to the
> data unfettered by copyright or other restrictions.  Long story short, it
> went all the way to the California Supreme Court, and CFAF won.
>
> The best part about this is that "open access to public records" isn't
> just enacted law, it is enacted law AFFIRMED BY HIGH COURT, about as good
> as it gets when such or similar questions arise in the future.
>
> What you (or somebody else, preferably with deep legal pockets!) might do
> is something similar:  explicitly reject the copyright as a direct conflict
> of statutory law.  It appears you have to understand what Virginia's law
> says, be prepared to challenge the jurisdiction's actions (assertion of
> copyright) as illegal and be convinced court(s) will see it your way.  I
> think.  Or at least, be prepared for that to happen:  that's what happened
> here.
>
> A similar, recent (July 2013) case between the Sierra Club and Orange
> County can be read about at
> http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/08/local/la-me-adv-map-ruling-20
> 130709 where again, the court ruled that the County must provide the GIS
> data without licensing or restrictions on distribution.
>
> Once the data are "cleanly yours," THEN there are good questions to

Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[stevea]

 >>Conclusion:  explicit law may already give us 
permission to use (our) data any way we see fit, 
simply by asking for them.  Read up on >>your 
state's laws on Public Records, see if there are 
any court decisions affirming, and armed with 
this knowledge, ask away.  Happy mapping!


Good point. RCFP just published a guide to open 
government records law for all 50 states, which 
you can find here here: 
http://tinyurl.com/m6leum5 
The guide is simply the text of state 
legislation, so you won't find anything in the 
way of interpretation or application. For that 
you'd better look closer to home.


In Virginia we have a public records law that 
places most public records in the public domain, 
but interestingly (or frustratingly) every 
jurisdiction in the state asserts copyright over 
the data. Here is the text of that copyright:


"Information shown on these maps is derived from 
public records that are constantly undergoing 
change and do not replace a site survey, and is 
not warranted for content or accuracy.	 The 
County does not guarantee the positional or 
thematic accuracy of the GIS data. The GIS data 
or cartographic digital files are not a legal 
representation of any of the features in which 
it depicts, and disclaims any assumption of the 
legal status of which it represents. Data 
contained on this Web page/site is Copyright © 
York County, Virginia. The GIS data are 
proprietary to the County, and title to this 
information remains in the County. All 
applicable common law and statutory rights in 
the GIS data including,but not limited to, 
rights in copyright, shall and will remain the 
property of the County."


My take is that this language was crafted in the 
early days of paleo-GIS and was intended as a 
CYA by local governments who feared getting sued 
for inaccurate data. I'm not sure of the 
implications for importing into OpenStreetMap. 
Insights welcome.




OK, Steven, here are my insights.  Again, I am 
not an attorney, just a reasonably informed 
Citizen, and I most certainly do not know 
everything in this realm.


It would seem Virginia has a situation similar to 
California's a few years ago, BEFORE California 
Supreme Court's 2009 decision:  one where 
statutory law (California Public Records Act, 
part of California's Government Code) conflicted 
with a copyright/Terms of Use by a public entity 
(Santa Clara County).  The California First 
Amendment Coalition (CFAC) requested geographic 
data from the County of Santa Clara free of the 
County's onerous copyright and/or Terms of Use 
(asserting it under CPRA law, as enacted), the 
County refused, so CFAF sued, demanding as its 
remedy access to the data unfettered by copyright 
or other restrictions.  Long story short, it went 
all the way to the California Supreme Court, and 
CFAF won.


The best part about this is that "open access to 
public records" isn't just enacted law, it is 
enacted law AFFIRMED BY HIGH COURT, about as good 
as it gets when such or similar questions arise 
in the future.


What you (or somebody else, preferably with deep 
legal pockets!) might do is something similar: 
explicitly reject the copyright as a direct 
conflict of statutory law.  It appears you have 
to understand what Virginia's law says, be 
prepared to challenge the jurisdiction's actions 
(assertion of copyright) as illegal and be 
convinced court(s) will see it your way.  I 
think.  Or at least, be prepared for that to 
happen:  that's what happened here.


A similar, recent (July 2013) case between the 
Sierra Club and Orange County can be read about 
at 
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/08/local/la-me-adv-map-ruling-20130709 
where again, the court ruled that the County must 
provide the GIS data without licensing or 
restrictions on distribution.


Once the data are "cleanly yours," THEN there are 
good questions to ask whether the data might or 
should find their way into OSM.  That is an 
entirely different thread!  (One which has been 
addressed many times and in many ways regarding 
imports).


I hope this helps,

SteveA
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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[stevea]

Whoops, sorry, that was Richard Weait's suggestion to use ODC PDDL 
and/or CC-Zero licenses on public data, not Elliott Plack's 
suggestion.


My suggestion is to "end run" any need to do even this by simply 
applying your state's Public Record laws to what are, in effect, 
public records.  Simply request them under the law, then as you have 
the legal right to do so, use them as you see fit.  After all, the 
data are yours (at least in my state, how about yours?)


SteveA
California

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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Steven Johnson]

>>Conclusion:  explicit law may already give us permission to use (our)
data any way we see fit, simply by asking for them.  Read up on >>your
state's laws on Public Records, see if there are any court decisions
affirming, and armed with this knowledge, ask away.  Happy mapping!

Good point. RCFP just published a guide to open government records law for
all 50 states, which you can find here here:
http://tinyurl.com/m6leum5The guide is simply
the text of state legislation, so you won't find
anything in the way of interpretation or application. For that you'd better
look closer to home.

In Virginia we have a public records law that places most public records in
the public domain, but interestingly (or frustratingly) every jurisdiction
in the state asserts copyright over the data. Here is the text of that
copyright:

"*Information shown on these maps is derived from public records that are
constantly undergoing change and do not replace a site survey, and is not
warranted for content or accuracy. * The County does not guarantee the
positional or thematic accuracy of the GIS data. The GIS data or
cartographic digital files are not a legal representation of any of the
features in which it depicts, and disclaims any assumption of the legal
status of which it represents. Data contained on this Web page/site is
Copyright © York County, Virginia. The GIS data are proprietary to the
County, and title to this information remains in the County. All applicable
common law and statutory rights in the GIS data including,but not limited
to, rights in copyright, shall and will remain the property of the County."

My take is that this language was crafted in the early days of paleo-GIS
and was intended as a CYA by local governments who feared getting sued for
inaccurate data. I'm not sure of the implications for importing into
OpenStreetMap. Insights welcome.
 

-- SEJ
-- twitter: @geomantic
-- skype: sejohnson8

There are two types of people in the world. Those that can extrapolate from
incomplete data.


On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 3:29 PM, stevea  wrote:

> **
> Here in California, thanks to at least one major judicial decision, all
> (geographic) data produced by public entities (incorporated cities,
> counties/divisions/departments/bureaus of the state itself, et cetera) is
> hampered neither by requiring "permission" from the state, nor acceptance
> of so-called "Terms of Use" or specific "license agreements."
> Specifically, the relevant case is the 2011* County of Santa Clara v 
> CFAC*decision in the California Supreme Court.
>
> We have here what is called the California Public Records Act (CPRA) which
> outlines what a state actor (the "trustee" of the public trust) may or may
> not include/exclude as a public record when asked for by a member of the
> public (both "executor" and the "beneficiary" of the public trust).  The
> requesting party might be a member of the press, or somebody just like
> you.  The CPRA is similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),
> but it is for records (data) held by state entities, not federal records
> (data).
>
> In brief (from the decision):  "the CPRA contains no provisions either for
> copyrighting [this work] or for conditioning its release on an end user or
> licensing agreement by the requester.  The record thus must be disclosed as
> provided in the CPRA, without any such conditions or limitations."
>
> Yes, I know (from personal experience with CPRA requests), even with the
> CPRA, it can be difficult to pry the data out of their hands, but a recent
> incident with someone on talk-us wanting to use building outline data from
> City of Palo Alto made him ask talk-us "The City has an onerous Terms Of
> Use license...can I use these data?"  I answered basically by saying the
> above:  the City isn't allowed any longer to add such restrictions:  the
> CPRA says so and the California Supreme Court has affirmed this.  No need
> to bully them, just remind them of the truth of the law and what courts
> have to say about it -- without accepting "no" for an answer.
>
> It is very likely that other states besides California have "public record
> laws."  So, geographic data held by state actors certainly fall within this
> jurisdiction (I am not an attorney, just an informed Citizen).  OSM
> contributors in the other 49 states would be well advised to do a bit of
> simple research and find out:  whether affirmed by high court decision or
> not, it is possible that you already have statutory provisions for using
> public (geographic, and other) data -- simply by asking for the records.
>
> Elliott's suggestion does go a certain distance towards explicitly and
> effectively doing the same thing, though I believe that clarification of
> Public Record laws is a correct legal "remedy" to address this issue.  It
> may be "shorter" and/or "easier" than permission in the form of an explicit
> ODC PDDL or CC-Zero declaration.
>
> Conclu

Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[stevea]

Here in California, thanks to at least one major judicial decision, 
all (geographic) data produced by public entities (incorporated 
cities, counties/divisions/departments/bureaus of the state itself, 
et cetera) is hampered neither by requiring "permission" from the 
state, nor acceptance of so-called "Terms of Use" or specific 
"license agreements."  Specifically, the relevant case is the 2011 
County of Santa Clara v CFAC decision in the California Supreme Court.


We have here what is called the California Public Records Act (CPRA) 
which outlines what a state actor (the "trustee" of the public trust) 
may or may not include/exclude as a public record when asked for by a 
member of the public (both "executor" and the "beneficiary" of the 
public trust).  The requesting party might be a member of the press, 
or somebody just like you.  The CPRA is similar to the federal 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but it is for records (data) held 
by state entities, not federal records (data).


In brief (from the decision):  "the CPRA contains no provisions 
either for copyrighting [this work] or for conditioning its release 
on an end user or licensing agreement by the requester.  The record 
thus must be disclosed as provided in the CPRA, without any such 
conditions or limitations."


Yes, I know (from personal experience with CPRA requests), even with 
the CPRA, it can be difficult to pry the data out of their hands, but 
a recent incident with someone on talk-us wanting to use building 
outline data from City of Palo Alto made him ask talk-us "The City 
has an onerous Terms Of Use license...can I use these data?"  I 
answered basically by saying the above:  the City isn't allowed any 
longer to add such restrictions:  the CPRA says so and the California 
Supreme Court has affirmed this.  No need to bully them, just remind 
them of the truth of the law and what courts have to say about it -- 
without accepting "no" for an answer.


It is very likely that other states besides California have "public 
record laws."  So, geographic data held by state actors certainly 
fall within this jurisdiction (I am not an attorney, just an informed 
Citizen).  OSM contributors in the other 49 states would be well 
advised to do a bit of simple research and find out:  whether 
affirmed by high court decision or not, it is possible that you 
already have statutory provisions for using public (geographic, and 
other) data -- simply by asking for the records.


Elliott's suggestion does go a certain distance towards explicitly 
and effectively doing the same thing, though I believe that 
clarification of Public Record laws is a correct legal "remedy" to 
address this issue.  It may be "shorter" and/or "easier" than 
permission in the form of an explicit ODC PDDL or CC-Zero declaration.


Conclusion:  explicit law may already give us permission to use (our) 
data any way we see fit, simply by asking for them.  Read up on your 
state's laws on Public Records, see if there are any court decisions 
affirming, and armed with this knowledge, ask away.  Happy mapping!


SteveA
California


On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Elliott Plack 
 wrote:



 Greetings OpenStreetMappers,

 I am very excited to announce that my organization, Baltimore County
 Government Office of Information Technology is releasing our GIS data to the
 public in a free and nonrestrictive way!


Wonderful news!  I'm thrilled to hear that you intend to make the Data
of The People, By The People and For The People, available to The
People.  :-)

Your use of "public domain" in the subject is potentially confusing,
since there is no reliable method for you to declare that the data is
in the public domain.  Please see the wiki article linked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#Government_works

It would be wonderful if you would choose and attach the following
license(s) to the data, and your web site on which they are published.
 ODC PDDL (preferred, because it is specific to data), CC-Zero.

Casual references to "making the data public domain" are common, and
are probably clouding the matter even further.  :(  Sorry to play the
license-pedant-card and harsh your mellow.  You are clearly trying to
do the right thing.  So many other places / institutions make the same
casual references to "making the data public domain" that it is no
surprise that you got caught by it.
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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Russ Nelson]

Richard Weait writes:
 > Your use of "public domain" in the subject is potentially confusing,
 > since there is no reliable method for you to declare that the data is
 > in the public domain.  Please see the wiki article linked.

If someone claims that their copyrighted work is in the public domain,
and then tries to enforce the copyright on you, you present the
declaration to the judge, the judge is going to declare that there is
no copyright to be infringed, and everybody goes home having spent a
minimal amount of time and money on what is ultimately foolishness.

It's much more likely that the US will invade Canada to get your
recipe for poutine.

-- 
--my blog is athttp://blog.russnelson.com
Crynwr supports open source software
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-600-8815
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  | Sheepdog   

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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Paul Norman]

> From: Richard Weait [mailto:rich...@weait.com]
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 2:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain
> 
> Your use of "public domain" in the subject is potentially confusing,
> since there is no reliable method for you to declare that the data is
> in the public domain.

Although this is true for an individual, it is more complicated for a 
government. There are a few ways that a dataset might be "public domain."

- The government could view the material as data which does not qualify
  for copyright protection in the US. This puts the dataset in the same
  state as one created by the federal government - there is nothing 
  protected by copyright.

- The government could be barred by a statute or regulation from 
  restricting the dataset's use under copyright. The situation here is 
  more complex because they may be copyright holders, but are prevented
  from acting like they were.

I generally accept that when a government makes a statement about releasing
data in a particular way that they have the legal ability to do so. Their
lawyers presumably know the law applicable to them and have a basis on
which to make their statements.

> It would be wonderful if you would choose and attach the following
> license(s) to the data, and your web site on which they are published.
>  ODC PDDL (preferred, because it is specific to data), CC-Zero.

In the US there are no database rights so CC0 does an adequate job of 
releasing the rights that do exist. It's when you start to not 
unconditionally release rights that the CC licenses and ODC licenses
differ in the US.


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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Elliott Plack  wrote:

> Greetings OpenStreetMappers,
>
> I am very excited to announce that my organization, Baltimore County
> Government Office of Information Technology is releasing our GIS data to the
> public in a free and nonrestrictive way!

Wonderful news!  I'm thrilled to hear that you intend to make the Data
of The People, By The People and For The People, available to The
People.  :-)

Your use of "public domain" in the subject is potentially confusing,
since there is no reliable method for you to declare that the data is
in the public domain.  Please see the wiki article linked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#Government_works

It would be wonderful if you would choose and attach the following
license(s) to the data, and your web site on which they are published.
 ODC PDDL (preferred, because it is specific to data), CC-Zero.

Casual references to "making the data public domain" are common, and
are probably clouding the matter even further.  :(  Sorry to play the
license-pedant-card and harsh your mellow.  You are clearly trying to
do the right thing.  So many other places / institutions make the same
casual references to "making the data public domain" that it is no
surprise that you got caught by it.

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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Ian Villeda]

o man this is great. amazing work Elliot! 

-- 
ian


On Friday, September 27, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Steven Johnson wrote:

> Congratulations, Elliott! And kudos to all the people at Baltimore government 
> that made it possible. 
> On Sep 27, 2013 4:53 PM, "Elliott Plack"  (mailto:elliott.pl...@gmail.com)> wrote:
> > TO:
> > [talk-us]
> > [imports-us]
> > 
> > FROM:
> > Elliott Plack
> > [elliott.pl...@gmail.com (mailto:elliott.pl...@gmail.com)]
> > [epl...@baltimorecountymd.gov (mailto:epl...@baltimorecountymd.gov)]
> > 
> > 27 Sep 2013
> > 
> > Greetings OpenStreetMappers,
> > 
> > I am very excited to announce that my organization, Baltimore County 
> > Government Office of Information Technology 
> > (http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/infotech/GIS/index.html) is 
> > releasing our GIS data to the public in a free and nonrestrictive way! We 
> > maintain a vast array of GIS data used for land management, emergency 
> > management, and public works programs. Baltimore County covers nearly 700 
> > square miles and has about 800,000 denizens. Today that data is available 
> > to download (and perhaps integrate into OSM). 
> > 
> > http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/infotech/GIS/index.html
> > 
> > I have also put some of our data into some repositories on GitHub, which 
> > you can also see right now (https://github.com/baltimorecounty). In 
> > particular to OSM interests, I want to point out the AddressPoints repo 
> > (https://github.com/baltimorecounty/address-points), just a snippet of the 
> > dataset, which is very accurate as it used by our 911 center. We have 
> > several full time staff that maintain that data daily. That data is also 
> > available in full from the FTP source above. 
> > 
> > I would like to get the conversation started about how some of this data 
> > might be worth importing to OSM. There is very little mapping activity in 
> > the rural areas of the county, and while many buildings have been added, 
> > address coverage is low. There are many other possibilities here, like 
> > converting centerlines to an imagery layer for improving existing roads, 
> > and plat boundaries for tagging landuse areas in OSM. 
> > 
> > We also have hard drives and intranet folders full of orthoimagery that is 
> > available upon request. Some dates back to the 1930s.
> > 
> > Regarding licenses and the legal aspects of the data. Baltimore County 
> > asserts that the data is to be released into the public domain. They make 
> > no claims for any kind of license or attribution, but there is a standard 
> > accuracy disclaimer. I have been pushing for a specific license declaration 
> > like ODbL but so far there hasn't been any movement there. If anyone wants 
> > to help with that effort, let me know. 
> > 
> > Finally, I want to thank Josh Doe and Ian Dees for getting the Maryland 
> > State Orthoimagery map service proxied by osm.us (http://osm.us) so that 
> > folks may use it in their JOSM sessions! 
> > http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Servers/Imagery
> >  This is excellent data from 2011, leaf-off, 6 inch orthophotography. Great 
> > for mapping! 
> > 
> > I welcome comments and feedback.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > -- 
> > Elliott Plack
> > http://about.me/elliottp
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ___
> > Talk-us mailing list
> > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org (mailto:Talk-us@openstreetmap.org)
> > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
> > 
> ___
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> 
> 


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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Steven Johnson]

Congratulations, Elliott! And kudos to all the people at Baltimore
government that made it possible.
On Sep 27, 2013 4:53 PM, "Elliott Plack"  wrote:

> TO:
> [talk-us]
> [imports-us]
>
> FROM:
> Elliott Plack
> [elliott.pl...@gmail.com]
> [epl...@baltimorecountymd.gov]
>
> 27 Sep 2013
>
> Greetings OpenStreetMappers,
>
> I am very excited to announce that my organization, Baltimore County
> Government Office of Information 
> Technology 
> is
> releasing our GIS data to the public in a free and nonrestrictive way! We
> maintain a vast array of GIS data used for land management, emergency
> management, and public works programs. Baltimore County covers nearly 700
> square miles and has about 800,000 denizens. Today that data is available
> to download (and perhaps integrate into OSM).
>
> http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/infotech/GIS/index.html
>
> I have also put some of our data into some repositories on GitHub, which
> you can also see right now . In
> particular to OSM interests, I want to point out the AddressPoints 
> repo,
> just a snippet of the dataset, which is very accurate as it used by our 911
> center. We have several full time staff that maintain that data daily. That
> data is also available in full from the FTP source above.
>
> I would like to get the conversation started about how some of this data
> might be worth *importing *to OSM. There is very little mapping activity
> in the rural areas of the county, and while many *buildings *have been
> added, *address *coverage is low. There are many other possibilities
> here, like converting centerlines to an imagery layer for improving
> existing roads, and plat boundaries for tagging landuse areas in OSM.
>
> We also have hard drives and intranet folders full of *orthoimagery *that
> is available upon request. Some dates back to the 1930s.
>
> Regarding licenses and the legal aspects of the data. Baltimore County
> asserts that the data is to be released into the public domain. They make
> no claims for any kind of license or attribution, but there is a standard
> accuracy disclaimer. I have been pushing for a specific license declaration
> like ODbL but so far there hasn't been any movement there. If anyone wants
> to help with that effort, let me know.
>
> Finally, I want to thank Josh Doe and Ian Dees for getting the Maryland
> State Orthoimagery map service proxied by osm.us so that folks may use it
> in their JOSM sessions!
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Servers/Imagery
>  This
> is excellent data from *2011, leaf-off, 6 inch orthophotography*. Great
> for mapping!
>
> I welcome comments and feedback.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Elliott Plack
> http://about.me/elliottp
>
> ___
> Talk-us mailing list
> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
>
>
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Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore County GIS Data is now public domain

[Kathleen Danielson]

Congratulations, Elliott! I know you've been working toward this for a long
time!


On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Elliott Plack wrote:

> TO:
> [talk-us]
> [imports-us]
>
> FROM:
> Elliott Plack
> [elliott.pl...@gmail.com]
> [epl...@baltimorecountymd.gov]
>
> 27 Sep 2013
>
> Greetings OpenStreetMappers,
>
> I am very excited to announce that my organization, Baltimore County
> Government Office of Information 
> Technology 
> is
> releasing our GIS data to the public in a free and nonrestrictive way! We
> maintain a vast array of GIS data used for land management, emergency
> management, and public works programs. Baltimore County covers nearly 700
> square miles and has about 800,000 denizens. Today that data is available
> to download (and perhaps integrate into OSM).
>
> http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/infotech/GIS/index.html
>
> I have also put some of our data into some repositories on GitHub, which
> you can also see right now . In
> particular to OSM interests, I want to point out the AddressPoints 
> repo,
> just a snippet of the dataset, which is very accurate as it used by our 911
> center. We have several full time staff that maintain that data daily. That
> data is also available in full from the FTP source above.
>
> I would like to get the conversation started about how some of this data
> might be worth *importing *to OSM. There is very little mapping activity
> in the rural areas of the county, and while many *buildings *have been
> added, *address *coverage is low. There are many other possibilities
> here, like converting centerlines to an imagery layer for improving
> existing roads, and plat boundaries for tagging landuse areas in OSM.
>
> We also have hard drives and intranet folders full of *orthoimagery *that
> is available upon request. Some dates back to the 1930s.
>
> Regarding licenses and the legal aspects of the data. Baltimore County
> asserts that the data is to be released into the public domain. They make
> no claims for any kind of license or attribution, but there is a standard
> accuracy disclaimer. I have been pushing for a specific license declaration
> like ODbL but so far there hasn't been any movement there. If anyone wants
> to help with that effort, let me know.
>
> Finally, I want to thank Josh Doe and Ian Dees for getting the Maryland
> State Orthoimagery map service proxied by osm.us so that folks may use it
> in their JOSM sessions!
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Servers/Imagery
>  This
> is excellent data from *2011, leaf-off, 6 inch orthophotography*. Great
> for mapping!
>
> I welcome comments and feedback.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Elliott Plack
> http://about.me/elliottp
>
> ___
> Talk-us mailing list
> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
>
>
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