[Talk-us] Does anybody know if these PA maps are legal to use to get info from for OSM?

[Brian May]

On 8/2/2015 6:14 AM, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> James Mast wrote:
>> I mean, would he have to at least verify that the
>> license for those maps is compatible with OSM first
> Yes, and it isn't. The licence has lots of clauses that aren't compatible
> with ODbL, the Contributor Terms or indeed any open licence:
>
> ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_pdf_files/Documents/Cartography/COPY_RELEASE_FORM%20(01_07).pdf
>
> That said, it might be worth someone approaching the Pennsylvania DOT to ask
> for permission. But as it stands, these terms aren't at all compatible.
>
> Richard
>
>

In the document Richard refers to, the Pennsylvania DOT asserts 
copyright and makes many demands on how you can use the data. However, 
you have have to look to the state statutes to see if that is legal for 
them to do. Many state and local agencies throughout the US assert 
authority they they do not have over public records in their custody. 
This is a widespread problem throughout the US. Many states have been 
working to clarify these issues and have setup something like an "Office 
of Open Records" to help educate the public as well as train state and 
local agencies in the proper response to public records requests.

A quick review of Pennsylvania shows that they have an Office of Open 
Records [1] and state appears to have an open attitude towards public 
records as defined in their Right to Know Law enacted in 2008 [2]. The 
Office of Open Records also has a great training document for state and 
local agencies that explains things well. [3]

The state statute does not specifically grant agencies the authority to 
copyright and therefore restrict use of records, its quite the opposite. 
A couple of excerpts from the Pennsylvania Right to Know law:
---
Section 301. Commonwealth agencies.
(a) Requirement. — A Commonwealth agency shall provide public records in 
accordance with this act.
(b) Prohibition. — A Commonwealth agency may not deny a requester access 
to a public record due to the intended use of the public record by the 
requester unless otherwise provided by law.

Section 703. Written requests
A written request need not include any explanation of the requester’s 
reason for requesting or intended use of the records unless otherwise 
required by law.
---

Another problem around the US is many (most?) state public records laws 
do not explicitly mention copyright or public domain. However, this has 
been tested and resolved in some court cases. The court case in my home 
state of Florida that clarifies the copyright issue for agencies in 
Florida is Skinner vs. Microdecisions [3]. This case also resolved the 
issue of charging unfair prices for replication of data, i.e. the "cost 
recovery" problem that is also still widespread around the US.

James, you may want to contact the Office of Open Records and review the 
FDOT document with them to double-check that they have no authority to 
assert the claims in the document and that unless otherwise exempted by 
law, all public records in Pennsylvania are public domain. There are 
exemptions to the law, but I didn't see any pertaining to highway maps.

[1] 
http://openrecords.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/open_records/4434
[2] https://www.dced.state.pa.us/public/oor/pa_righttoknowlaw.pdf
[3] https://www.dced.state.pa.us/public/oor/2014AnnualTraining.pdf
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdecisions,_Inc._v._Skinner

-- 
Brian May
MapWise Inc.
772-600-7353
www.mapwise.com