In Real Estate, Geographic Information and the Internet Changes Everything
By Paul Siegel and contributing author Brad Foster

Traditionally, the trappings of the real estate professional have been a late-model upscale sedan, a multiple listings book that rivals the Yellow Pages in heft, and an intimate knowledge of local neighborhoods and real estate markets. Both agent and client will spend tedious, and often unproductive, days on the road going from one neighborhood to another, viewing listings which eventually all look alike. This represents, to most people, the visible "tip of the iceberg" of the real estate industry. Of course, there is also the financial, insurance and legal aspects all of which can, and will, experience dramatic efficiencies through the implementation of the GeoTechnologies and the Internet.
      It's not news to anyone that the Internet is changing the way business thinks, acts, and defines relationships. This is particularly true in the real estate industry which is arguably more dependent on location-related issues than any other industry. As a result, the Internet and geospatial information are changing the way business is done in real estate.
      The potential applications for geospatial information in the real estate industry are virtually unlimited. There are literally hundreds of companies that are marrying geographic information and the Internet to the real estate market. This article looks at the most innovative developments where organizations have applied the information access and distribution utility of the Internet and the location-rich information of the GeoTechnologies to the wide world of real estate.

Expediting the Real Estate Transaction
Canadian firm MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA), based in Richmond, B.C., has been a technological leader in remote sensing and GIS for decades-virtually since the inception of this fledgling industry-and is now quietly positioning itself as a key provider of land information to the real estate business. According to MDA's vice president of strategic business development, Karel Vanturennout, "The increased pressure for land information providers, such as governments and major banks, to expedite property transactions with increased efficiency, combined with increased demand for better information and management tools, has forced the rise of new information markets and the need for reliable information delivery infrastructures."
      To address the delivery of legal and ownership aspects of land, MDA entered into a joint venture agreement with Land America Financial Corporation, one of the largest title insurance companies in the United States. The objective was to combine Land America's experience and position in the U.S title insurance and financial services sectors with MDA's technical capabilities in distributed databases, the Internet, online land information, and proprietary satellite-image data content.
      Operating under the name LandMDA, the joint venture is in the process of launching an online property information service called RapidTract in Florida. This service will provide lenders with near-real-time information to accelerate the loan and mortgage approval process results. Traditionally, O&E reports require 24 to 72 hours to produce. With RapidTract, these reports will be available in less than four hours, with a firm objective to produce the reports in minutes.
      According to Mr. Friedmann, the biggest issue bankers face is the ability to quickly close a sale. "If a banker has a customer on the phone or in his office, he wants to approve the transaction before the customer goes across the street. Most of the business lost in the mortgage industry is a result of being too slow in responding to customers' needs."
      RapidTract will use the strengths of Land America and MDA to assist customers by reducing the time before lenders can make loan decisions. RapidTract is scheduled to expand into nine other Florida counties by the end of 2000. By 2001, LandMDA will offer its RapidTract products in many of the largest counties in California.
      To provide the appraisal and assessment market with asset value for a parcel of land, MDA acquired DataQuick (formally a subsidiary of Acxiom Corporation) in April 2000. This acquisition immediately positioned MDA as a leading supplier of land-value and asset appraisal information via the Internet. DataQuick is a respected market leader providing asset and valuation products to businesses and consumers across the United States.
     As a result of this acquisition, MDA has electronic access to asset, valuation, and property tax information for properties in more than 800 counties in 46 states, representing 73 percent of the general U.S. population, and over 81 percent of the population residing in metropolitan areas.

Environment and Property Data Online
A pioneer in providing environmental data to the GIS community, VISTAinfo has blazed the trail by utilizing the Internet as a vehicle to provide critical geographic information to the real estate industry. VISTAinfo, based in San Diego with other offices in the U.S. and Canada, is now described as an Internet real-estate-based information provider helping its customers determine the desirability, finance ability, insurability and value of any property anywhere in the U.S. via the Web. The company maintains and enhances the largest database of proprietary location-specific real estate, environmental and underwriting information in the United States, gathered from thousands of sources. They also keep multiple property information databases serving over 35,000 customers in a variety of markets including real estate agents, brokers, lenders, investment bankers, appraisers, engineers, insurance companies, REITs, corporate real estate, compliance, and environmental executives.
      The largest provider to real estate agents and brokers for the statutory California Natural Hazard Disclosure requirement, VISTAinfo provides verification of the status of a property in relation to its location to earthquake, seismic and landslide zones, flood zones, California fire protection and high fire-risk areas, and hazardous environmental sites. For the consumer real estate market, the company developed NearMyHome (www.NearMyHome.com), a site designed for home buyers and homeowners that illustrates what types of natural hazard, pollution and community information is available for their city or ZIP Code area. Users provide a city and state, or ZIP Code, and a FREE interactive map is then displayed. There are also little tidbits of valuable information on the risk types that are found, including definitions and history.
     VISTAinfo, in joint partnership with the Insurance Services Office of New York (ISO), maintains and markets the Geographic Underwriting System (GUS) to the property and casualty insurance market. GUS delivers key underwriting information for any property in the United States for ratings and risk information such as ISO fire protection ratings (PPC), ISO auto ratings, automobile drive-distance verification, earthquake seismicity and historical earthquake data, high-wind corridors and history, hurricane history, and other information specific to the property and casualty underwriting process.

Real Estate Thirsts for Flood Data
Possibly one of the most valuable sources of information for the real estate business is accurate and up-to-date flood maps. Every year, thousands of lives are put in mortal danger and billions of dollars are risked as a result of flooding in America. Accurate and up-to-date flood maps not only represent the potential of financial benefits, but can also save human and animal lives.
      The Transamerica Real Estate Information Company (TREIC) is a leading provider of property tax services, flood zone determinations, and detailed information on residential properties to banks, mortgage companies, real estate lenders, savings and loans, insurance companies, credit unions, and individual consumers. One of its sibling companies, Transamerica Flood Hazard Certification Inc. will unveil FloodMapSM version 2.0, its most up-to-date, commercially available flood map database. The newest version encompasses 1449 counties, which represents more than 85 percent of the U.S. population, an increase of more than 200 counties over the initial FloodMap release.
     In addition to greater geographic coverage, the latest version includes the effective date of the Flood Insurance Rate Map panel. This new data attribute eliminates the time-consuming task of determining these dates by using cross-reference tables. Also, panel-effective dates show end-users the scope of revisions to the official Flood Insurance Rate Maps as a result of community map actions. All map revisions are included with each quarterly release of the FloodMap database.
      FloodMap is essential for accurate and detailed county-level flood-hazard data in a geographic information systems (GIS) format. It is especially valuable to insurance and real estate companies, state and local government agencies, and banking and financial institutions. This vital tool is used for risk assessment and portfolio management, flood hazard determination, disaster response and recovery planning, environmental impact, and site selection.
      Dan Munson, vice president of sales and marketing at CDS Business Mapping, said, "FloodMap's data is key and allows us to offer our customers the most up-to-date flood information in real-time." He added, "Companies using the Risk Meter Desktop or Risk Meter Online [www.riskmeter.com] can do real time lookups over the company LAN or the Internet. Rather than using the time-consuming and error-prone method of paper lookups, they can simply type in the address and let the software do the rest." FloodMap also is included in the Flood Insightsª product offered by Transamerica Intellitech, ¨ Inc. The software and data application combines the power of mapping with the accurate and current FloodMap database. Flood Insights offers access to a quick flood determination by simply entering an address.

Aerial or Satellite Image of Your House Online
Head quartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., GlobeXplorer, an online company supplying images of the Earth over the Internet, unveiled a first-of-its-kind web site that will change the way e-commerce businesses acquire rich media. With more than 12 terabytes of Earth imagery, GlobeXplorer imagery provides broad views of the entire Earth down to detailed views of neighborhoods, buildings and streets in a way never before possible, delivered right to the desktop.
      "Our images will help drive consumers to a customer's web site and keep them there longer," said Rob Shanks, president and CEO at GlobeXplorer. "E-businesses integrating our imagery into their web sites will have a clear competitive advantage." For example, in the real estate market, potential buyers will be able to view detailed images of entire neighborhoods, streets and buildings.
      A customizable Application Programming Interface (API) allows clients subscribing to GlobeXplorer Image Server to extract images and present them on their web sites in a matter of seconds, for just pennies per view. Michael Nappi, general manager of the MapQuest Business Solutions Group said "With street-level maps providing the detailed location context, and photographic imagery providing the real world landscape, consumers can virtually see the streets of New York City, or explore the neighboring suburbs of Westchester County for a new place to live."
      Clients subscribe to the GlobeXplorer Image Server to deliver images for use on their web sites-in real time. For example, real estate agencies can use the imagery to locate potential neighborhoods for homebuyers and to evaluate properties for commercial buyers. The user simply types in a city or address and the image viewer shows high-resolution images of the area. Supportive web links are made available for local mortgage banks, neighborhood school and crime statistics, insurance risks, and others.

Not Ready to Lose the Lexus
The continued growth of the world's population and a corresponding increase in natural resource utilization is paralleling the trend toward consolidation in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets around the world. Governments and business have a growing need for the quick and cost-effective delivery of essential information to better understand and manage all aspects of land, including its physical properties, surface characteristics, usage, environmental state, legal, and proprietary aspects.
      The Internet and the GeoTechnologies have the potential to transform how bankers approve a mortgage, how emergency planners respond to natural disasters, how neighborhoods are planned, how realtors sell property, how consumers search and research properties, and how legal and ownership information, asset value and appraisal information is accessed and distributed. However, it will be a long time until the real estate agent gives up the fancy car, the multiple listings book, and the untold hours and days spent on the road searching for the ideal listing.

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