Public Rights of Way GIS Data and Descriptions

The request was successful.

Dear Kent County Council,

Under the Environmental Information Regulations, I would like to request a copy of:

1/ The digitised version / working copy of your Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way, e.g. as used to show the routes in the online map at https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/countrysidea...

My preferred format for this GIS data would be one of KML, GeoJSON, MapInfo or Shapefile. (I realise that this data is not the actual Definitive Map, but just an unofficial representation of it, which may contain errors. But that is fine for my purposes.)

2/ A copy of your Definitive Statements of Public Rights of Way, assuming these are held in digital form (either scanned copies or native digital versions). I would prefer the information in a re-usable (computer readable) format.

Secondly, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I would like to request permission to re-use the information supplied above under the Open Government Licence v3 [1]. The purposes for which the information is to be re-used are: (a) to help improve the mapping of Rights of Way in OpenStreetMap, and (b) to convert the datasets to a more convenient format, and then make them available for others to re-use under an open licence.

I understand that the re-use question may require some internal consideration, so please don't let this delay the first part of my request -- I'd like to have a copy of the documents even if you're not able to grant permission to re-use them at the moment. In case it is a worry for you, I understand that Ordnance Survey does not claim any IP rights in Definitive Statements [2], and that you are able to release Definitive Map GIS data derived from OS base maps using the PSMA derived data "Presumption to Publish" terms [3,4]. You will see from the website RowMaps [5], that the majority of Highway Authorities have already released their Rights of Way GIS data and licensed them for re-use. However, Cumbria is one of the few counties not listed there.

Yours faithfully,
John Rogers

PS: Other authorities have previously claimed that because these documents are available for inspection they are already "reasonably accessible" under FOI/EIR rules. However, as I live quite a way from your offices in Kent and work full-time, I don't feel it would be reasonable for me to travel to your offices to inspect the documents there. Also, the ICO has previously ruled that online Rights of Way maps that are available via an authority website do not represent the full underlying data that would be available in a GIS file, so this does not count as being "reasonably accessible" [6]. Finally, if you are contemplating refusing the re-use request for any reason, you might like to review another ICO Decision notice at [7].

[1] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...
[2] http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/201...
[3] https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/busines...
[4] https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/busines...
[5] http://www.rowmaps.com/
[6] https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
[7] https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...

Kent County Council

Dear Mr Rogers

 

Thank you for your email

 

Kent County Council acknowledges your request for information under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Assuming KCC holds this
information, we will endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as
possible but no later than 4^th October 2017 (20 working days from date of
receipt).

 

We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exceptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information. Please quote our reference - EIR/17/1523 - in any
communication regarding this particular request.

 

 

Carly Wattle | Information Access Officer | Information Resilience &
Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.71, Sessions House,
Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 417061 | Fax 03000 420303 | 
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kent County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Rogers

 

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000, relating to Public Rights of Way data. I am
pleased to provide the response below:

 

Kent County Council(KCC) has been in the process of reviewing its approach
to the supply of the PROW digital alignment data, in light of recent ICO
decisions, but also in regard to improving the availability of information
to our customers. We are currently arranging the set-up of a download
facility on our website, which will also be referenced from data.gov.uk
once live. It is intended to base the licensing on the Open Government
Licence v3.0 and we are taking advice on the downstream use of this i.e.
re-publishing under an open licence.

 

With regard to an electronic copy of the Definitive Statement, we can
confirm that this information is available in electronic format. We attach
a copy of this now and, going forward, we aim to have a similar download
facility available on our website for this. To clarify, the attached
document is the ‘Network Statement’ which means it is the working copy of
the Definitive Statement, as published, but including any changes to the
path network recorded since the date of publication [31^st May 2013]. The
statement is accurate up to today’s date.

 

We would appreciate it if you could wait for us to set up the download
facility for the digital alignment data, rather than provide this data
separately in the interim. We aim to have this facility available within
four weeks of the date of this response [25^th October 2017]. Should we
encounter any technical difficulties in setting up the download facility,
which means it is likely to take longer than this to set up, then we will
commit to making the data available to you at that point rather than delay
supply any further.

 

We trust that the above information is of help. We undertake to advise you
separately on the downstream use of the data prior to the data download
facility being in service.

 

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/17/1523.

 

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner’s website [2]http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kirsty-Leigh Robertson| Information Access Officer | Information
Resilience & Transparency Team | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone |
Phone 03000 418301 | Fax 03000 420303 |
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

Dear Kent County Council,
I am still waiting for the digital alignment data which you said would be avalible by the 25th of October

Yours faithfully,

John Rogers

Kent County Council

Dear Mr Rogers

 

Thank you for your email, which I have passed onto the relevant team to
deal with. 

 

To clarify, this is now being dealt with as a follow-on query to your
previous request, under the same reference number FOI/17/1523.

 

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not legislate for follow-on
requests and therefore there is no statutory timeframe for us to respond
within.

 

However, I will endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible
but no later than 24^th November 2017 (20 working days from date of
receipt).

 

Kind regards

 

Kirsty-Leigh Robertson| Information Access Officer | Information
Resilience & Transparency Team | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone |
Phone 03000 418301 | Fax 03000 420303 |
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

Dear Kent County Council,

I am looking for a response,
You are over a month late on giving me access to said data,
I feel like this is not going to happen,
If you do not respond with the data as you originally promised I will have no choice but to contact the ICO.

Yours faithfully,

John Rogers

Kent County Council

7 Attachments

Dear Mr Rogers

 

Thank you for your follow on request for information. Please accept my
sincere apologies for the delay in responding to you. I appreciate that
KCC has failed to comply with statutory timescales on this occasion. I am
pleased to provide the response below:

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in forwarding the data through
to you as advised. Please now find the KCC PROW data, attached, as
previously agreed; in the absence of the download page being in place.

 

The data is licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0 details of which
can be found [1]here. We would ask that you also note the
information/limitations below when using the data:

 

o This data does not constitute the Definitive Map and Statement for
public rights of way. It only infers the likely alignment and status
of public rights of way in Kent. It is not suitable for giving legal
advice or to determine the legal extent, alignment or status of a
public right of way.

 

o Confirmation of the legal alignment or existence of a public right of
way can only be made by using the Definitive Map and Statement.
Details of where and how you can view the Definitive Map and Statement
are available [2]here.

 

o The data is not suitable for carrying out property searches.
Completion of a [3]CON29 form is the legally recognised process for
carrying out property searches and this includes questions which
cannot be legally or fully answered by using this data alone.

 

o We ask that the user of the data acknowledges that this information
contains OS derived data using the attribution statement: ‘Contains OS
data © Crown copyright and database rights 2017’

 

o The data has been captured, in its entirety, against Ordnance Survey
base mapping products which are not available under Open Data.
Nonetheless the data should display correctly against the Open Data
products provided by the OS but no guarantee is given in this regard.

 

We trust that the above information is of help. We are working with our
colleagues, in Digital Services, to get the download page in place as soon
as possible.

 

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
[4]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/17/1523.

 

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner’s website [5]http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kirsty-Leigh Robertson| Information Access Officer | Information
Resilience & Transparency Team | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone |
Phone 03000 418301 | Fax 03000 420303 |
[6]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

 

show quoted sections