GIS/Mapping Software

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

Can you please disclose information regarding the council’s use of GIS/Map software? This includes any software the council uses that allows for the distribution and/or use of GI/Map data over an intranet or the internet for use and consumption by staff and/or the public.
Specifically, can you disclose:

1. The name & provider of any GIS/Map software
2. The number & types of license held for each individual GIS or Map software
3. The price of the licenses held
4. The renewal date or contract length of the licenses held

For Example:
Software: ArcGIS - ESRI, Number of Licenses: 15, Price: £xxxx.xx, Renewal Date: 01.01.2019
Software: Map Info – Pitney Bowes, Number of Licenses: 12, Price: £xxxx.xx, Renewal Date: 01.01.2019

Can you also please disclose the number of any specific GIS staff within the council and their job titles?

For example:
Total Number of GIS Staff: 4 GIS staff
Job Titles: 1 x GIS Manager, 3 x GIS Officers

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Bennett

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Mr Andrew Bennett
 
 
Your request for information has been passed to an investigating officer.
 
Your reference is FS-Case-68367780
 
 
Thank you
 
Sandwell MBC

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Andrew Bennett,
 
Information Request - FS-Case-68367780
 
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. In response to your
request I can confirm the following:
 
 
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 19th February
which asked: Can you please disclose information regarding the council's
use of GIS/Map software? This includes any software the council uses that
allows for the distribution and/or use of GI/Map data over an intranet or
the internet for use and consumption by staff and/or the public.
Specifically, can you disclose: 1. The name & provider of any GIS/Map
software 2. The number & types of license held for each individual GIS or
Map software 3. The price of the licenses held 4. The renewal date or
contract length of the licenses held For Example: Software: ArcGIS - ESRI,
Number of Licenses: 15, Price: £xxxx.xx, Renewal Date: 01.01.2019
Software: Map Info – Pitney Bowes, Number of Licenses: 12, Price:
£xxxx.xx, Renewal Date: 01.01.2019 Can you also please disclose the number
of any specific GIS staff within the council and their job titles? For
example: Total Number of GIS Staff: 4 GIS staff Job Titles: 1 x GIS
Manager, 3 x GIS Officers I cannot confirm definitively that Sandwell
Metropolitan Borough Council holds all of the information that you have
requested. However, because the cost of complying with your request would
exceed the limit set by the Freedom of Information Act, on this occasion I
am afraid we will not be processing your request further. The law allows
us to decline to answer Freedom of Information requests when we estimate
it would cost us more than £450 (equivalent to 18 hours worth of work,
calculated at £25 per hour) to identify, locate, extract, and then provide
the information that has been asked for. In this instance to provide you
with the information we would be required to request over 30 individual
services areas to respond individually as this information is not held
centrally and then someone would have to collate the responses. This task
would exceed the appropriate limit set out in the Act, that is, in excess
of 18 hours. Although we cannot answer your request at the moment, we
might be able to answer a refined request within the cost limit. You may
wish to consider, for example limiting your request to a number of
services. To assist, below is the information that was readily available.
MapInfo Professional – Pitney Bowes, Fixed single user Licenses: 35,
Price: purchase 2009(£900-1000 each), Renewal N/A no maintenance contract.
MapInfo Proviewer – free. Uniform – IDOX, Floating server licence (48
users), Price? AutoCADmap – AutoDesk, Transpotation / Highways Datamap -
GItech services, Education Within Regeneration & Growth Directorate there
is one post of LLPG & Geographic Information Officer I hope this is of
some assistance.
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
request, and should be addressed to:
 
Information Management Unit
Sandwell Council House
Freeth Street
Oldbury
West Midlands
B69 3DE
 
Email – [Sandwell Council request email]
 
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Sandwell MBC