[Imports] [Talk-us-newyork] Draft proposal for import of New York State GIS SAM Address Points

[Brian May]

On 1/9/2021 12:48 PM, Kevin Kenny wrote:
> Aside to Richard Welty:  Did we ever hear back from NYSGIS with some 
> sort of statement that use of their data is OK?  NYS Orthos Online got 
> dropped from iD, if memory serves, because the team demanded more 
> assurance than what we had.

What do the NY state statutes regarding Public Records say? That is your 
guide. Many people responsible for disseminating public records in 
government either don't fully understand what state law says, don't 
care, come up with their own policy that contradicts the law, etc.

Some states specifically target GIS data as "different" and apply 
special exemptions, etc. For example, the state of Georgia has pretty 
wide open public records law but they put in a provision that individual 
agencies may copyright GIS data and charge high fees. Pretty ridiculous, 
but its there. Most agencies don't do it, but some do. If New York is 
like Florida, with no specific exemption for GIS data, its basically 
public domain, no matter if the data is produced by a state agency or 
local government.

I'm not a lawyer, but as I see it, at the end of the day, state law 
spells it all out and you can ignore claims made by people who don't 
understand the law.

A little googling for: new york state public open records

https://www.ny.gov/programs/open-foil-ny

https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/foil2.html

We really need some pages on the wiki that explain the basics of Public 
Records laws state by state.

Brian