Between the Poles: California Supreme Court to hear case for free and open access to county geospatial data

Geoff Zeiss

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December 18, 2011

California Supreme Court to hear case for free and open access to county geospatial data

I blogged previously about a court case in 2009 involving Santa Clara County in California that was decided in favour of free and open access to county GIS data under California's Public Records Acts (PRA).

On May 31, 2011 a different California appelate court decided in favour of Orange County which charges $375,000 for their parcel database. After trying to obtain Orange County's parcel file at the cost of reproduction, in 2009 the Sierra Club initiated a lawsuit against Orange County under the PRA. In 2010, the Superior Court decided that the PRA exempts GIS databases from public record disclosure because the court concluded that they are "computer software developed by a state or local agency".

A California appellate court agreed with the Orange County Supreme Court that a GIS database is covered by the PRA software exclusion because it concluded that "computer mapping systems" as defined by the PRA includes software and data. Since this decision conflicts with the other California appellate court's decision in the case of Santa Clara County, the Sierra Club has appealed the question of access to Orange County's parcel basemap to the California Supreme Court.

According to a recent article by Bruce Joffe, Orange County's logic in the case is that GIS includes software and data (citing Esri's definition that says "GIS is a collection of software and data"); that the County's Landbase is a GIS; that GIS is a type of Computer Mapping System; that CMS is excluded bySection 6254.9 of the PRA; therefore, the County's GIS Landbase data is excluded. The Sierra Club argued that "Computer Mapping System" means a system of software modules, which does not include data; that GIS-formatted data is necessary for the public to analyze the government's decisions using its GIS database; that "includes" means an illustrative example, not an expansion of the definition of software; and that the California Legislature did not intend to exclude data when it passed the software exemption.

Sierra Club's final appeal has been made to the California Supreme Court based on the two County's public records lawsuits for the same kind of data resulted in opposite opinions being an important reason. On September 14, 2011 the Court agreed to hear the case.

GIS professionals who may be willing to co-sign a GIS amicus brief can contact Bruce Joffe (founder of the Open Data Consortium project) at 510-508-0213, or email Bruce at [email protected].

Posted at 09:01 AM in Access to Spatial Data, Open Data, Parcel fabric, Sharing Spatial Data, Spatial Data, Spatial Databases | Permalink

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Between the Poles

Geoff Zeiss

October 2024

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December 18, 2011

California Supreme Court to hear case for free and open access to county geospatial data

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