Five years after his original talk about open access to transit data, Urban Mapping CEO Ian White laments the state of affairs around public access to government data and private parties manipulating what it means to have a public resource.

1. How Open is Open (Redux)?
O’Reilly Where Conference
April 3, 2012
San Francisco, CA
@urbanmapping

2. About Urban Mapping
! San Francisco HQ
! Profitable
! 10 FTEs
! Founded (2003): Panamap
! Print to data (2005): Neighborhoods, public transit
! Data to software (2008): Web mapping + data on-demand
2008
2005
2003 @urbanmapping

3. 2008 Recap: Denial of Data
“…our overall impression of what you plan to do involves a traditional license
agreement.”!
“…interested only in subway entrances as indicated on on the map.”!
“…we cannot release MTA neighborhood maps…”!
“…it’s unclear to me how they can be ‘un-released,’especially given that large
format maps exist in each station and the very public nature of subway exits.”!
@urbanmapping

4. 2008 Recap: Denial of Data (2)
FOIL request
FOIL appeal
Lawsuit (Rankin v DoITT)
“It would be very useful to a terrorist group
to have precise information and details
regarding the location of subway entrances and
exits.”!
-Chief of Counterterrorism, NYPD
2009 Lawsuit (Rankin v NYCTA)
Sought PDFs for ~140 station plans
(265 were already posted online)
@urbanmapping

5. The Rise of GTFS
Generalized (nee Google) Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)
September 2008: Google Transit welcomes NYC’s MTA
Jan 2009: MTA schedule data license fees 10% of net revenues
Feb 2009: no fees, do what you like
@urbanmapping

6. Those Cursed Facts
©
US Copyright Act (17 USC §105)
No federal copyright
@urbanmapping

7. Privatization of Public Resources
EnormaCom
@urbanmapping

8. Privatization of Public Resources 2.0
Gov as a data.gov!!
platform!
More with
Gov 2.0! Open
less!
government!
@urbanmapping

9. Business By Legislative Fiat (Extortion)
@urbanmapping

10. Kinder, Less Evil Approach (Extortion by Other Means)
Google Transit
+!
Public
GTFS
@urbanmapping

11. Bagelocracy
@urbanmapping

12. Knee Jerk Reactions
@urbanmapping

13. As Open As A Clenched Fist
@urbanmapping

14. Thank You
Ian White
Urban Mapping Inc
ian@urbanmapping.com
@urbanmapping