Town of Ballston

TOWN RESIDENTS UPSET AT WEB MAPS:

Officials at Town Hall have received several frantic calls about land conservation maps recently published on Saratoga County's Web site.

The Geographic Information System, located at http://www.co.saratoga.ny.us, shows property lines, property values, location of roads, wetlands, streams, boundaries and has an aerial photo of the lots in all county municipalities.

The Ballston section also shows the location of historic markers and parcels designated as having historic, scenic or environmental value by the town's Land Conservation Committee.

Supervisor Ray Callanan said he's spoken to a couple of agitated residents who questioned why their property was being highlighted on the maps for consideration in future land conservation projects.

Town Council members agreed that the town didn't sufficiently inform people of the purpose of the maps and that they would be published online.
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Residents at a recent town meeting voiced their concern with public information being easily accessed from the Web site.

Linda Williams Lambert said posting the information on the county Web site is an invasion of privacy.

This will be a constant refrain over the next few years as municipalities make information available online, particulrly the wealth of information avalable on GIS systems. All of this information was readily available to the public before it went online but now it's much easier to find and compile. I fall into the camp which holds that making already public information more public, if you will, is a net benefit, and not an invasion of privacy.