California court rules Public Records Act not cover GIS database
A California appeals court ruled that a public agency does not have to provide public access to a geographic information system or GIS database under the state’s Public Records Act. The court denied the Sierra Club’s bid to make public the Orange County Landbase, a parcel map showing over 640,000 parcels with street addresses and names of owners. The county wanted $375,000 for the entire Landbase system. In their opinion, the court wrote that the