[Freegis-list] RE: FYI: Restrictions on access to GIS and spacial data

[Matt.Wilkie]

Hi Folks,

Having been burned a few times when websites zip off to the great 
electron recycler in the void, I have developed a policy of always 
maintaining a local backup of data (if I can find the disk space) 
used and retrieved from external servers as there is no guarantee 
it will remain online for future reuse. It seems that now policies 
like this are becoming more important than ever to actually follow.

In the wake of Sept11 data deemed potentially available for 
terrorist explotation is being pulled offline. Geospatial data by 
it's very location specific nature is particularily vulnerable to 
this concern. Unfortunately, chances are if it's useful for 
terrorists it is also important to the general populous. For  
example one of the "disappeared" datasets is the US Environmental 
Protection Agency's Risk Management Plans for hazardous chemicals. 
These plans provide three elements about chemicals being used in 
plants: a hazard assessment, a prevention program, and an emergency 
response plan. 

I fully expect that with the passage of time most of this data will 
become available again. Inevitably though, some of it will not and
you, an end user, will are unlikely to be involved in the decisions 
of what comes back and what doesn't.

If the collective memory called the internet continues becoming a 
more unreliable storage mechanism, will we all be trying to build 
local "mini" internet mirrors?

take care,

-matt

Antidotes: 
	http://www.bootstrap.org/
	http://longnow.org/
	http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Williams [brucewms at pacbell.net]
Sent: 2001 October 15 09:21
To: vtp at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vtp] FYI: Restrictions on access to GIS and spacial data

The Federal Government seems to be restricting access to some GIS 
and spacial data. Not to panic, just for you to notice....

http://www.ombwatch.org/info/2001/access.html

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency "stopped selling large-scale 
digital maps to the public through its Web site and turned off the 
search engine on its Web site that allowed customers to download 
maps from its archives," according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Most of the Geographic Information Services at the Bureau of 
Transportation Statistics have been removed from the web site (see 
http://www.bts.gov/gis/). The site is a national resource for 
transportation spatial data and GIS in transportation information. 
One activist noted that the web site previously indicated that the 
agency was reviewing the site for security reasons. Now when you 
click on Geospatial Data, Map Gallery, or State GIS Resources, the 
site indicates that information is "currently unavailable." In 
response to an email question about why the information was 
unavailable and when it will return, we received the following: 
"Due to the attacks on September 11th, BTS and all other government 
agencies have had to reevaluate the content available through our 
web pages. We do not yet know if this data will be available in the 
future or if we will permanently offer it only to federal, state and 
local officials. We apologize for this inconvenience and if you 
would like I will notify you when we have made a final decision on 
the matter."

Bruce Williams


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