Public Rights of Way GIS Data and Statements

The request was successful.

Robert Whittaker

Dear Birmingham City 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 as stored for use in a GIS software application. 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/ 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. If the full Statement information is already contained in the GIS data supplied for part 1, then that will satisfy this part of the request, and there is no need to provide anything separately.

Secondly, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I would like to request permission to re-use the information above under the Open Government Licence v3. 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... .

Birmingham City Council

[1]Logo
 
 
 
 
Information request
Our reference: 1711033
Your reference: [FOI #494654 email]

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

Dear Sir/Madam
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 28 June
2018 concerning:
 
 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 as stored for use in a GIS software application. 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/ 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. If
the full Statement information is already contained in the GIS data
supplied for part 1, then that will satisfy this part of the request, and
there is no need to provide anything separately.

Secondly, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I
would like to request permission to re-use the information above under the
Open Government Licence v3. 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.
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 26 July 2018.
 
In some case, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we will
send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
 
We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Jenny Bent
Business Support Coordinator
Economy
[email address]
 
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
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The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
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Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
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Birmingham City Council

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Information request
Our reference: 1711033
Your reference: [FOI #494654 email]

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

Dear Sir/Madam
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 28 June 2018.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Jenny Bent
Business Support Coordinator
Economy
[1][email address]
 
 
 
Re Use of Public Sector Information
Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL DISCLAIMER This email contains proprietary
confidential information some or all of which may be legally privileged
and/or subject to the provisions of privacy legislation. It is intended
solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, an
addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail; you must not
use, disclose, copy, print or disseminate the information contained within
this e-mail. Please notify the author immediately by replying to this
email. Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual
sender, except where the sender specifically states these to be the views
of Birmingham City Council. This email has been scanned for all viruses
and all reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure that no viruses
are present. Birmingham City Council cannot accept responsibility for any
loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachments.
***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

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Robert Whittaker

Dear Birmingham City Council,

I am writing to request an internal review of Birmingham City Council's handling of my EIR/RoPSIR request 'Public Rights of Way GIS Data and Statements', ref 1711033. A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

First of all, many thanks for your quick response to my request, even if it is not the response what I was hoping for. However, I believe that your response is incomplete and your reasoning is incorrect in several places, and so I would like to request that you conduct an internal review of your response. Please pass this message on to the relevant person.

First, your refusal to supply the information as requested appears to be based solely on EIR r6(b), which is invoked when "the information is already publicly available and easily accessible to the applicant in another form or format." I would contest this on two grounds.

1/ As far as the GIS data is concerned, I do not believe that the full information that I have requested is actually publicly available as you suggest. You may be providing a view of some of the information at your offices, e.g. allowing people to view a representation of the paths in a GIS system, but this is only a summary of the full coordinate information that is stored in the system. Unless you are actually allowing members of the public to inspect the files themselves and view the individual coordinates of each point stored within them, then 6(b) does not apply. (See the Information Commissioner's previous ruling that Cambridgeshire County Council's online map only represented a summary of the underlying GIS data I had requested -- paragraph 20 at https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak... .)

2/ Even if what you make available did qualify as making the information "publicly available", it also has to be "easily accessible to the applicant". Since I live in Norfolk and work full time during normal office hours, it would not be easy or convenient for me to travel to Birmingham to view the information as you have suggested. Therefore the information is not "easily accessible" to me and hence r6(b) cannot be applied.

(The final two points you make in your response don't appear to be connected to any specific exemptions, but I think deserve some comment: Regarding point 3, under the PSMA "Presumption to Publish" it is no longer necessary to apply to OS for permission to publish Public Rights of Way data. Regarding point 4, the ICO has consistently ruled that issues with the public interpreting released data or that data becoming out of date are not suitable reasons to withhold information. It is up to the public authority to provide suitable context around any releases, and publish regularly updated versions if these issues are important.)

Secondly, you do not appear to have responded to my Re-Use Request under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations. Since you are claiming you are already making the information available, then you must respond to this part too. When doing so, please have particular regard for RoSPIR r11, which contains additional requirements about the format of the information above those contained in EIR.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Birmingham City Council

 
 
 
 
Information request
Our reference: 1711033
Your reference: [FOI #494654 email]

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

Dear Mr Whittaker
 
Information requested by: Robert Whittaker
 
I am writing further to your email dated 5 July 2018 seeking an internal
review.
 
Request:

1/ The digitised version / working copy of your Definitive Map of Public
Rights of Way as stored for use in a GIS software application. 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/ 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. If
the full Statement information is already contained in the GIS data
supplied for part 1, then that will satisfy this part of the request, and
there is no need to provide anything separately. 

Secondly, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations, I
would like to request permission to re-use the information above under the
Open Government Licence v3. 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 

The panel met on Wednesday 1 August 2018 and in deliberating its decision
the panel gave consideration to

* The original request
* Response provided by the directorate
* Submission from the applicant 

The panel considered the response provided by the service area and also
noted the requestor's submission and concluded that although the service
area, in their response, stated the digitised information is publicly
available and accessible and information can be viewed at the Council
offices. The panel noted the requestor's submission and agreed that due to
the distance of travel, in this instance under the EIR regulation 6(1)(b)
information publicly available would not be applicable. 

The panel have concluded that the information should be made available and
the service area is now working on the publication of the data. The
service area will also provide the conditions of re-use.  The service area
have confirmed this information will be published on our website no later
than 28 September 2018. 

If you are not content with the outcome of this Internal Review you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a
further decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
 
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedon...
 
Helpline on 0303 123 1113
 
Yours sincerely
 
Malkiat Thiarai
Head of Corporate Information Management
Strategic Services
 
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL DISCLAIMER This email contains proprietary
confidential information some or all of which may be legally privileged
and/or subject to the provisions of privacy legislation. It is intended
solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, an
addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail; you must not
use, disclose, copy, print or disseminate the information contained within
this e-mail. Please notify the author immediately by replying to this
email. Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual
sender, except where the sender specifically states these to be the views
of Birmingham City Council. This email has been scanned for all viruses
and all reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure that no viruses
are present. Birmingham City Council cannot accept responsibility for any
loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachments.
***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

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Robert Whittaker left an annotation ()

The council responded to me via a private email address and provided the requested data on 28th September 2018. That data is now available from http://www.rowmaps.com/datasets/BI/ .