SR 05:291 - Laserfiche WebLink

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council: BACKGROUND The City has developed geographic information system (GIS) data relating to streets, utilities, parcels, hydrology, aerial imagery, and for fire suppression purposes, site and building floor plans, including materials stored in buildings and their location. The City has developed this data for its own use to facilitate planning and management of the City's infrastructure as well as responding to fire, public safety and other emergency situations. The City regards its GIS data as its intellectual property and considers it confidential, official and proprietary information. The State Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the California Department of Transportation are sponsoring an emergency response management network project (ERMN). The project is to demonstrate information sharing through a common operational picture, and is funded by the Federal Department of Homeland Security. The purpose of the project will be to help manage public safety response activities, primarily during emergencies. This project contemplates public agencies throughout California participating in the network by making their GIS data viewable to first responders, local emergency operations centers, the State OES and other emergency coordinating agencies. Such data would be shared and displayed so that there is a common operational picture of an emergency situation that would provide the emergency coordinators with a greater opportunity to understand, in real time, the nature of the emergency and respond accordingly. The City has been asked to be a participant in this initial phase of the project. In addition, the City has already entered into two data sharing agreements, one with the cities of San Ramon, Dublin, Livermore, Danville and the Alameda County Zone 7 Water Agency, and the other with the Hacienda Business Park Owners Association (this latter agreement has a number of restrictions as to access toluse of the data). It is likely that there will be further requests for the City to enter into similar agreements, In the absence of a blanket authority to enter into these kinds of agreements, each would need to be presented to Council. DISCUSSION The City's GIS data would be secured for access by agencies to view only; the data itself would not be transmitted to the emergency response coordinators. The ownership and rights to the data would not be changed as a result of the agreement; the City would continue to own and maintain its own data. And, although the City has the responsibility to maintain the accuracy and currency of its databases, the City is not guaranteeing the accuracy thereof. Others who participate in the network will agree not to transfer, store or download the City's data except where permission is expressly granted. (Likewise, if the City participates, it also agrees not to download another city's data unless [as provided in the City's separate data sharing agreement] that other city agrees.) The agreement is intended to last for five years although a participating agency may terminate its participation with 60 days written notice. SR:05:291 Page 2 of3