Public Rights of Way GIS Data and Statements
Dear Worcestershire 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://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/websit... . 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/ I would also like to obtain a complete copy of all the Definitive Statements of Public Rights of Way. I see that these are linked from your map as individual .tiff files. That's fine for accessing individual entries, but would it be possible for you to please supply a list of all the file names in use e.g. "KP_026_A.tif, NJ_029_A.tif, SG_006_A.tif..." so I can make sure I have all of them? Alternatively, if these file names are already included in the GIS data supplied under item 1 above, then a separate list here will be unnecessary.
Secondly, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I would like to request permission to re-use both the GIS data and Definitive Statements referred to above under the Open Government Licence v3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o... . 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.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Whittaker
PS: If you are contemplating refusing any parts of this request, you may like to first read the following Decision Notices from the ICO in relation to similar requests that I made to Cambridgeshire County Council: https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak... and https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak... .
Request For Information #549144
Dear Robert Whittaker
Request for Information – Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental
Information Regulations 2004
Thank you for contacting Worcestershire County Council. I acknowledge
receipt of your request.
Your request is being considered and we will contact you within the
statutory 20 working day timescale from the date of receipt .
Yours sincerely
Information Access Team
Corporate Information Management Unit (CIMU)
Worcestershire County Council
[Worcestershire County Council request email]
This email address is not monitored , please do not reply
FOI Request Response
Dear Robert Whittaker
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST REGARDING: Freedom
of Information request - Public Rights of Way GIS Data and Statements
We have completed our response to this Freedom of Information Request,
please see the letter attached for further information.
Yours sincerely,
Geoghegan, Sophia
Worcestershire County Council
This email address is not monitored , please do not reply
Dear Worcestershire County Council,
With reference to FOI request #549144, also documented online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... ...
Many thanks for providing a copy of your Public Rights of Way GIS data. I note that the Shapefile provided also includes the URL of the definitive statement for each Right of Way, so that satisfies part 2 of my request.
However, under the terms of the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I also made a specific request for permission to re-use the information under the Open Government Licence. I do not appear to have had a response to that request yet. Could you please confirm that this request is under consideration, and provide an indication of when I might receive a response?
Yours faithfully,
Robert Whittaker
Dear Worcestershire County Council,
With reference to FOI request #549144, also documented online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
It has now been over 20 working days since my original email to you, and I still do not appear to have had a response to the re-use request I made under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations (RoPSIR). Can you please respond to this now, in accordance with RoPSIR regulation 8.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Whittaker
Dear Mr Whittaker
I have made enquiries regarding your request for using the data supplied to you in response to your FOI request. I now confirm that you have permission to use the information in the way that you describe.
Yours sincerely
Linda Hirschhorn
Business Support Assistant
Business Administration and Systems
Directorate of Economy and Infrastructure
Worcestershire County Council
County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP
Tel: 01905 844452
Email: [email address]
Dear Linda Hirschhorn,
Many thanks for your reply. Just to avoid any doubt, could I check that this permission to reuse the information under the OGL v3 also extends to the image files containing the Definitive Statements for each Right of Way?
Thanks again,
Robert Whittaker
Dear Mr Whittaker,
Following on from your previous email conversations, please accept this as confirmation that you have permission to use the information we have provided in the way you have described.
With kind regards,
Sophia
Sophia Geoghegan
Projects & Business Support Officer for
John Hobbs - Director of Economy & Infrastructure
Rachel Hill – Strategic Commissioner - Major Projects
Directorate of Economy & Infrastructure
Worcestershire County Council, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP
Office: 01905 844524
[email address]
Dear Sophia Geoghegan ,
Many thanks for your reply, but unfortunately it doesn't quite tell me what I wanted to know. Apologies for not being clearer before. The issue is that the Definitive Statement files weren't actually *supplied* by you as part of the EIR response, as they're already available on your website. There are URLs for them in the shapefile you did supply though, which means I'm able to access them myself.
The URLs are things like http://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/prow/WY... and I'd like permission to use the information they contain under the Open Government Licence v3. As the previous replies I've had regarding re-use refer only to the information "provided" or "supplied", and these files haven't strictly been "provide" or "supplied" by you, it is unclear whether or not you intended those statements to apply to the files. I'm therefore looking for confirmation that I can indeed use the http://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/prow/*.... files (which I can download myself) under the Open Government Licence v3.
Sorry for being pedantic on this point, but I need to be 100% sure about the licence for the files before I can use them to help improve OpenStreetMap.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Whittaker
Dear Mr Whittaker,
I have gained further clarification and have been provided with the information below.
In our previous reply we have supplied the links to the statements for each section public right of way as requested. The statements themselves are available to view by the public via our online interactive map. If you wish to use these statements then they are publically available to download and you have permission to use the downloaded the statement as well as the link.
It should however be noted that in the case of both the shapefiles and any downloaded statements that these are correct when provided, however there are legal changes to the public rights of way network from time to time which can amend both of these elements. This is something to be aware of when using the information.
I hope this will be helpful.
Kind Regards
Sophia
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