Thursday, September 16, 2010

Private Investigation News: Is data in GIS parcel map a public record?

"After losing a ruling in Orange County Superior Court, the Sierra Club is turning to the California Court of Appeal in an attempt to win no- or low-cost access to the County of Orange's Landbase parcel map system, which the public must currently pay thousands of dollars to get to.

The lower court on Aug. 9 handed down a final decision that granted Orange County an exemption from the California Public Records Act (PRA) when it comes to public access to the what is also known as the Geographic Information System (GIS) parcel basemap database.  


The county claimed its Oracle-based "OC Landbase" database is a GIS database, and that GIS databases are part of "computer mapping systems" and therefore, they are exempt under PRA Section 6254.9 that excludes software from the public record."
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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator