Quoting Joel Jaeggli <joelja@darkwing.uoregon.edu>:
The part that's striking to me, is that as usual, the folks in the industry don't know when their facilities are co-mingled, in part becuase that information simply isn't readily and easily available unless someone's willing to go out collect the small little bits and connect the dots... If that compartimentalization continues, then continginency planning just remains that much harder when no-one is in a position to make informed decisions.
Exactly. I think we all agree that this kind of information would be usefull for a variety of reasons (locating available resources, ensuring path redundancy, identifying critical points of failure, etc). I think we all agree that this information, in the wrong hands, can also be used for naughty purposes. How do we balance these opposing factors? I like the idea of a clearinghouse where one can access the data after a background check and a NDA. At the state level, the logical place would be the PUC. They have all the data, but do they have it all in a single GIS database? They should, but I doubt they do. At the national level, is there any department or agency to go to? It certainly doesn't sound like it. What would it take to get a project such as Mr. Gorman's done by the federal government so that there would be a single place to go? Does the government already have this information locked up behind closed doors? It seems like they would. Is there any reason not to make it available to interested parties that have a valid reason to access it? Would the infrastructure owners oppose such a system being publically available? After all, they don't want their competitors to copy their good design or take advantage of underserved markets revealed by the maps. But it seems they would have much to gain as well - potential customers will know who to go to for service. It sounds like the current trend is toward supressing this kind of information. But as an industry, it is in our best interest to compile this information and make it available to the proper parties. -Adam