NAVTEQ and Other Awaiting Changes to Illinois Freedom of Information Law
The state law is set to change come January and it may change if counties can charge for geospatial data and may open the licensing of that data.
NAVTEQ wants a copy of Whiteside County’s data. The company is happy to pay, but disputes the current licensing, which prevents it from sharing the data. The updated law may make the discussions moot.
Currently, many Illinois counties charge for online access to parcel data ($300/year rates are mentioned) and for copies of the database ($3000 - $5000 rates are mentioned). Whiteside uses Schneider’s Beacon application and some, but not all information on properties is free. The rest requires a $25/month fee for access.
I’m sure NAVTEQ and many other companies are waiting to see how the updated law is interpreted and implemented.
