C ONCLUSION

The emerging field of GIS and the public’s introduction to a vast field of information and technology ought to be encouraged by a uni- form and balanced system of liability. While the law must protect citizens, it must also nurture and promote new ideas and innovations by giving them room to grow. Since GIS is such a viable and useful new tool, the law must allow it, if not to thrive, at least to exist. If GIS producers become aware of the immense potential for liability from so many different areas of law, GIS producers will likely feel a chilling effect on their desire for new discoveries. GIS producers may cease sharing their data with other GIS professionals, cease making the information available to the public, or stop creating GIS data al- together if the risk of exposure to liability is as great as this Com- ment suggests. If any of these scenarios come to fruition, GIS pro- ducers will stop relying on the data of others and, instead, be forced to produce data used by them individually. This will not serve the GIS community or the public-at-large. The technology must be given a chance to define itself, in terms of what GIS users and GIS produc- ers will set as professional and technical standards. Without time to experience a few growing pains, GIS will be doomed to a strict liabil- ity standard. The legal community cannot let this valuable technol- ogy die prematurely.

APPENDIX A

The following geographic representation246 _{purports to show the}

location of evacuation routes and shelters for Leon County, Florida, when a severe weather event such as a hurricane occurs.

The county boundary was digitized from United States Geological Survey quarter quads at a 1:24000 scale. The location of the roads was obtained from digital orthophotography flown at a 1:200 scale, digitized according to street centerlines, and tied to GPS points. The placement of the roads is accurate to approximately six feet. The at- tributes of the roadways—the primary and secondary status of the evacuation routes—as well as the location of the shelters have been added by Leon County GIS at the request of the 911 Emergency De- partment. The location of the shelters is tied to the street addresses of those shelters.

Each data set has been manipulated for incorporation on this “map” to produce one cohesive and readable data set. For purposes of further discussion, the spatial data associated with this map is the location of the evacuation routes and shelters, as well as the county boundary. The tabular data includes the attributes associated with the evacuation routes—whether the route is a primary or secondary evacuation route.

Examples of data sets that could have been incorporated into this graphic representation include Federal Emergency Management flood plains or Leon County flood hazard spots. However, including either of these data sets at the scale depicted here would produce in- distinguishable characteristics. Reading the disclaimer on this “map” may help the layperson as well as the sophisticated GIS professional to understand the implications raised by producing any GIS data set.

A joint City of Tallahassee/Leon County project to allow public ac- cess to its GIS data is now available.247 _{The “map’s” spatial data in-}

cludes all city/county parcels, streets, water bodies, and flood hazard spots. The tabular data includes properties designated by use such as educational facilities, parks, or governmental buildings, street names, and parcel-specific information such as address, square foot- age of the parcel’s building, and the year the building was built.248

The City and County envision that the GIS website will eventually include such information as zoning categories, environmentally sen- sitive areas, and crime rates, with all information connected to indi- vidual parcels in the City/County database.249

246. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEP’T, LEON COUNTY, LEON COUNTY

EVACUATION ROUTES & SHELTERS (Draft Oct. 2, 1998).

247. See Tallahassee-Leon County GIS, Property Information Application (Parcels)

(visited Apr. 16, 1999) <http://tlcgis.co.leon.fl.us/templates/default.htm>. 248. See id.

EOGRAPHIC NFORMATION YSTEMS EP T EON C OUNTY , L EON C OUNTY E VACUATION R OUTES & S HELTERS (Draft Oct. 2, 1998).

This product has been

compiled from the most accurate data from Leon

County and the City of Tallahassee. However, this

product is for reference purposes only and is not to be

construed as a legal document or survey instrument.

Any reliance on the information contained herein is at

the user’s own risk. Leon County and the City of Tall

a-

hassee assume no responsibility for any use of the i

n

-

formation contained herein or any loss resulting ther

e-

APPENDIX B

NATIONAL MAP ACCURACY STANDARDS

The U.S. Bureau of the Budget promulgated the following stan- dards in 1941 and revised them in 1947.250

With a view to the utmost economy and expedition in producing maps which fulfill not only the broad needs for standard or principal maps, but also the rea- sonable particular needs of individual agencies, standards of accuracy for pub- lished maps are defined as follows:

1. Horizontal accuracy. For maps on publication scales larger than 1:20,000, not more than ten percent of the points tested shall be in error by more than 1/30 inch, measured on the publication scale; for maps on publication scales of 1:20,000 or smaller, 1/50 inch. These limits of accuracy shall apply in all cases to positions of well-defined points only[.] Well-defined points are those that are easily visible or recoverable on the ground, such as the fol- lowing: monuments or markers, such as benchmarks, property boundary monuments; intersections of roads, railroads, etc.; corners of large buildings or structures (or center points of small buildings); etc. In general what is well defined will also be determined by what is plottable on the scale of the map within 1/100 inch. Thus[,] while the intersection of two road or prop- erty lines meeting at right angles would come within a sensible interpreta- tion, identification of the intersection of such lines meeting at an acute an- gle would obviously not be practicable within 1/100 inch. Similarly, features not identifiable upon the ground within close limits are not to be considered as test points within the limits quoted, even though their positions may be scaled closely upon the map. In this class would come timber lines, soil boundaries, etc.

2. Vertical accuracy, as applied to contour maps on all publication scales, shall be such that not more than ten percent of the elevations tested shall be in error more than one-half the contour interval. In checking elevations taken form the map, the apparent vertical error may be decreased by as- suming a horizontal displacement within the permissible horizontal error for a map of that scale.

3. The accuracy of any map may be tested by comparing the positions of points whose locations or elevations are shown upon it with corresponding positions as determined by surveys of a higher accuracy. Tests shall be made by the producing agency, which shall also determine which of its maps are to be tested[ ] and the extent of such testing.

4. Published maps meeting these accuracy requirements shall note this fact on their legends, as follows: “This map complies with National Map Accu- racy Standards[.]”

5. Published maps whose errors exceed those previously stated shall omit from their legends all mention of standard accuracy.

6. When a published map is a considerable enlargement of a map drawing (manuscript) or of a published map, that fact shall be stated in the legend. For example, “This map is an enlargement of a 1:20,000-scale map draw- ing,” or “This map is an enlargement of a 1:24,000-scale published map.[”]

7. To facilitate ready interchange and use of basic information for map con- struction among all Federal map-making agencies, manuscript maps and published maps, wherever economically feasible and consistent with the uses to which the map is to be put, shall conform to latitude and longitude boundaries, being 15 minutes of latitude and longitude, or 7.5 minutes, or 3 [to] 3.4 minutes in size.251