Last week, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled against special interest groups that aimed to impose strict limitations on government contracting for mapping and GIS activities.
In the case of MAPPS, et al., v. United States of America, Judge T.S. Ellis III granted a summary judgment in favor of the government, as the MAPPS plaintiffs could not prove that individual surveyors or their firms experienced any actual injury.
Various geographic and GIS organizations, such as AAG, GISCI, GITA, UCGIS, and URISA, collaborated to support the government and oppose the MAPPS litigation. They engaged in educational outreach and developed an Amicus Brief for the Court regarding the case.
The AAG has also created a Mapping and GIS Community Defense Fund to assist with legal fees and educational activities related to these issues.
The Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS) had filed the lawsuit earlier this year, attempting to restrict competition for nearly all federal mapping contracts, including GIS services, to firms with licensed architects, engineers, and surveyors.
Douglas Richardson, executive director of the AAG, said, “The federal court’s dismissal of the MAPPS lawsuit in this ruling will help ensure that all qualified professionals in the mapping and GIS communities can fairly compete for government contracts.”
A ruling favoring the MAPPS plaintiffs could have had widespread negative consequences for cartographers, geographers, computer scientists, planners, foresters, GIS specialists, government agencies, GIS service companies, and many other individuals who have been innovative and productive forces in the mapping and GIS fields.
