Court Rules GIS Data Can't Be Kept Secret

Silverbear writes "In an update from a Slashdot story posted in January, The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that there is not a significant security risk to the town of Greenwich in making its GIS Data available to the public, and therefore must do so. Greenwich had claimed that the data could compromise personal and national security, and was sued under CT Freedom of Information laws. The legal ruling is available."

Hey...

[ilyanep]

You don't need a picture of the floorplan of a large office building to ram a plane in to it.

Re:ok now

[Anonymous Coward]

What the fuck is WTF?

Are they serious?

[WAR-Ink]

Greenwich: "If we make this information public, Saddam might bomb our latte shops."
Court: "Saddam is in jail."
Greenwich: "We meant Iran. There is great personal risk to our over-priced coffee industry."
Court: "I think you can survive."
Greenwich: "What about trade secrets. A map of our town is a trade secret."
Court: "You are aware that they are available at the corner gas station for a dollar fifty, right?"
Greenwich: "Not the electronic kind."
Court: "...which is free at Mapquest."
Greenwich: "You are abusing your authority!"
Court: "Get out before I have you shot."
Greenwich: "The next time you are drinking an double express mocha and a AGM-154 JSOW lands on you, just remember, we told you so."
Court: "Next case!"

Continuation

[AtariAmarok]

Court: "Bailiff?"
Balifff: "Yes?"
Court: "Judging from the name, Greenwich likely voted for Ralph Nader, and is a Satanist. Please take the prisoner to Gitmo."
Baliff: "Gladly, Worm, your honor!"
Court: "Now, call the schoolmaster!"

Re:Will they charge stiff fees?

[AtariAmarok]

As long as you pay $60 a page to be able to xerox it, and it is found in a locked file cabinet in the basement behind a door that says "Beware of Leopard", it is available to the public.

Re:ok now

[EEBaum]

Indeed! I was thinking "Why does the town of Greenwich have such a say on Google's operations?"

Re:GIS info is sensitive? Give me a break!

[Skye16]

oh, oh, oh, and...

"You're making baby Jesus cry!"

Google Maps

[zifferent]

Man even Google doesn't have close-in satelite imagery of the place.

It's like the porn channel on cable and nobody has a subscription. You cross a line an you go from crystal clear images to scrambled at the edges and then it changes to

"We're sorry, but we don't
have information at this zoom
level for this region.

Try zooming out for a broader look."

Where does Google get their images from and how powerful are these people that they get their area wiped off of the map?