California law criminalizing drawing lines on maps cripples innovation
It might sound ridiculous, but if you’ve ever drawn a map—whether a diagram of your backyard to show a landscaper the work you’d like done or directions on a napkin for a lost tourist—you might be a criminal. A new lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to end California’s unique law criminalizing such activity.
Ryan Crownholm is a Sherman Oaks-based entrepreneur who learned this lesson the hard way. Ryan runs MySitePlan.com, where he uses publicly available Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps to create drawings for clients. The drawings, called site plans, simply depict the location of various features on a property, such as buildings, driveways, fences or vegetation. His drawings don’t authoritatively determine where any features are located, like surveys do. Ryan’s customers use these site plans for a variety of reasons. Homeowners use them to show building department officials where they plan to do small projects on their property, such as building a shed. Apartment complexes use them to show residents where to find dumpsters or fire exits. Wedding venues use them to show how the property can be set up for the big day. MySitePlan.com has created more than 40,000 drawings for happy customers over nearly a decade of work.
In December 2021, Ryan received a citation from the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, claiming he was illegally practicing “unlicensed land surveying.” But Ryan’s website has a clear disclaimer that reads: “THIS IS NOT A LEGAL SURVEY, NOR IS IT INTENDED TO BE OR REPLACE ONE.” Local California building departments routinely accept site plan drawings from non-surveyors. As a matter of fact, several building departments even teach individuals how to draw their own site plans, using GIS maps, when applying for permits for small projects on their property. That’s how Ryan learned how to create site plans when he previously worked as a contractor. He started out tracing GIS maps off the internet, before eventually learning a more sophisticated way to create the drawings using Computer-aided Design (CAD) programs.
Despite all of this, the board ordered Ryan to immediately stop making site plan drawings in California and pay a $1,000 fine for his “unlicensed surveying.” But even the national organization of state surveyor boards recognizes that non-authoritative drawings like Ryan’s aren’t “surveying,” and thus shouldn’t require a license.
Clearly, what Ryan and MySitePlan.com were doing was no different than what other non-surveyors do on a daily basis. But the board doesn’t go after homeowners or contractors for creating their own site plans. Instead, the board has singled out an innovative entrepreneur for punishment.
That’s why Ryan teamed up with my public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to challenge California’s restrictive licensing requirements in federal court. But his case is about much more than just MySitePlan.com. This case is about the ability of innovative companies to provide a valuable service to their customers without being shut down by unnecessary restrictions. The GIS maps that Ryan relies on when creating his site plans are used by a variety of tech platforms, ranging from Google Maps and Uber to new startups. California’s licensing requirements could be weaponized to shut down any similar company, stifle innovation, and deny customers access to valuable services.
Ryan has a right to use publicly available data to create drawings that his customers can use for their various needs, and to earn an honest living for himself and his family. California’s law criminalizing drawing lines on a map violates Ryan’s rights and threatens to cripple future innovative companies.
Mike Greenberg is an attorney at the Institute for Justice and represents Ryan Crownholm in his lawsuit against California.