Vancouver goes open source

[Dan Knauss]

Activists push city endorsements of open source

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=4223

Vancouver moves to “open source” government

http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1603

Open Source, Open Standards, Open Data, Open Vancouver

http://ascher.ca/blog/2009/05/15/open-vancouver/

City of Vancouver set to back open source, open standards, open data

http://www.straight.com/article-220944/city-vancouver-set-back-open-source-open-standards-open-data

Does a Vancouver proposal related to open source mean a new GIS?

http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/5796-Does-a-Vancouver-proposal-related-to-open-source-mean-a-new-GIS.html

"In a word, "no", it does not mean anything about software or Digital
Cities. ICIS is just a province-level data sharing arrangement where
municipalities and regional districts pool their cadastre and exchange
data with the province and local utility companies. Vancouver never
joined because they didn't think they got enough out of it to warrant
giving away their cadastre for "free" to the other partners."

[ICIS SOUNDS LIKE A CANADIAN EQUIVALENT OF MCAMLIS IN MILWAUKEE
COUNTY.]

> -----Original Message-----

>

>

> Dear Milwaukeeans and others concerned with the public

> interest in the digital, networked age:

>

> If the following information grabs your interest and/or you

> already know something about it, I would very much appreciate

> your help and insight in understanding it better.

>

> Specifically, what is the public interest, and what is at stake?

>

> Here are what seem to be the basic facts the Milwaukee County

> Automated Mapping and Land Information System (MCAMLIS):

>

> http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/LandInformationProgr23113/LIOI

> nteractiveMapping.htm

>

> There is NO GEODATA EXPORT for the public. You must get a

> secure login account as a governmental unit or as an

> authorized employee of WE, SEWRPC, AT&T, or MMSD.

>

> You can, in some cases, export data in XLS format (Microsoft

> Excel)--for example City data that is already publicly

> available and has just been copied into this County system.

>

> So perhaps not the data itself but all means of reasonable

> access to it as GEODATA has been COPYRIGHTED by the private

> utility companies who paid for the system to be developed:

>

> http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/LandInformationProgr23113/LIOI

> nteractiveMapping/InteractiveMappingFAQs.htm

>

> http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cntyArchEn

> g/Data_Requisition_Guidelines.pdf

>

> My reading of the licensing contract is that you clearly

> can’t even post a screendump image from MCAMLIS online

> without violating copyright.

>

> Furthermore, it appears that MCAMLIS is funded partly by sale

> of Register of Deeds data to 3rd party providers of these

> crappy fee-based systems, which I have been forced to use in

> the past in the process of slumlord research:

>

> LAREDO ($500/mo) and TAPESTRY ($5.95 per search query and

> $0.50 per page)

>

> http://county.milwaukeecounty.org/display/router.asp?docid=9846

>

> There is also a fee-based 3rd party provider used if you want

> a copy of your vital records:

>

> http://www.vitalchek.com/milwaukee-county-express-vital-records.aspx

>

> This is pretty crazy to the point of unusable--but there is

> more data now than there used to be:

>

> http://www.searchregdeeds.milwcnty.com/

>

> The WI Register of Deeds Assoc. website, as bad as it is,

> remains a more accessible window into the County than the

> County website:

>

> http://www.wrdaonline.org/

>

> Also of interest:

>

> Press Release for TSA Signing Ceremony: Electronic Recording

> Council of Wisconsin

>

> http://www.wrdaonline.org/PressReleases/ElectronicRecordingCou

> ncilSigningCeremony.pdf

>

> The Electronic Recording Council of Wisconsin and

> representatives from several companies who actively record or

> provide special computer programs that record documents

> electronically will gather for a special Ceremony on May 6, 2009, at

>

> 11:00 a.m. in the Governor’s Conference Room.

>

> Invited signatories will sign the new Trusted Submitter

> Agreement (TSA) designating a new era of electronic

> partnership with local and state government. Craig Haskins

> from Knight-Barry Title, Kelly Blanchard from the Bank of

>

> Cambridge, and industry representatives from Ingeo, Applied

> Computer Systems, Fidlar Software, US Recordings and

> Simplifile will be on hand to sign the new three-page document.

>

> E-filing may speed home titles: With state's first deed

> processed electronically, more are in store

>

> By JOANNE CLEAVER

>

> jcle...@journalsentinel.com

>

> Posted: Jan. 26, 2008

>

> http://www.wrdaonline.org/PressReleases/MilwaukeeCountyeRecord

> 2008-01-28.pdf

>

> An example of GOOD governmant data sharing is the DNR and the

> Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) -- full public access

> to raw data in open standard formats:

>

> http://gis.glin.net/ogc/services.php?by=topiclm_coho_locs_mfa.

kmz#usgl_principal_ports_2005

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/maps/gis/

When GOOD data sharing ocurs, this is what happens:

...it gets used by public and private academic institutions:

http://www.geography.wisc.edu/maplib/gis.html

http://coastal.lic.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ims/wisconsin-ims.htm

http://libinfo.uark.edu/GIS/us.asp

http://sco.wisc.edu/wisclinc/ [WISCLINC is a clearinghouse effort in
Wisconsin maintained by the Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office.
WISCLINC is part of a network of NSDI nodes which contribute to the
progress of federal initatives such as Geospatial One-Stop and The
National Map. WISCLINC pulls together records of geospatial data, land
records websites and statewide land information inventory survey.]

http://sco.wisc.edu/wisclinc/survey/index.php

...it gets shared among the states and federal gov:

http://gisinventory.net/about.html

http://gos2.geodata.gov/wps/portal/gos

http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/

...and private entities try to sell it:

http://data.geocomm.com/