Reduce field visits and improve property assessment efficiency
Oct 2024
By integrating location intelligence into your property assessment process, you can reduce costs, maximize coverage, and ensure that your team operates at peak efficiency — all while maintaining the highest standards of data accuracy and reliability.
Oct 2024
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For government property assessment departments, field visits have traditionally been a necessary but time-consuming part of the job. Property assessors often spend countless hours visiting sites to gather information, verify changes, and ensure accurate valuations. But in today’s budget-conscious environment, relying solely on fieldwork can create inefficiencies, increase costs, and slow down the assessment process.
That’s where location intelligence comes in. Powered by high-resolution, frequently updated aerial imagery, location intelligence enables assessors to perform detailed property assessments from the office, dramatically reducing the need for field visits.
“Our goal in the past was to visit every property once every nine years. With Nearmap, we were able to reduce that time to once every six years after just a few months.”
Richard Conti, Assessor, City of Taunton, MAConduct desktop reviews
Field visits can be costly and time-consuming, particularly for larger counties or jurisdictions with expansive, difficult-to-reach areas. Instead of sending assessors into the field for every inspection, location intelligence allows them to perform desktop reviews using high-resolution aerial imagery. This provides teams with clear, detailed views of properties and any taxable changes — right from their desks.
By reducing the number of physical site visits required, assessors can free up valuable time and resources. And they can focus on assessing more properties in less time, improving productivity and workflow efficiency.
Remotely spot property changes and improvements
With frequently updated aerial imagery, assessors can easily track changes to properties over time without setting foot on site. This includes identifying new construction, renovations, additions, or changes to land use.
Instead of waiting for a scheduled field visit, or relying on reports from property owners, assessors can view recent images to quickly identify improvements or changes that may affect property values. This not only speeds up the assessment process but also ensures that property changes are accounted for in a timely manner, reducing the risk of missing valuable taxable improvements.
“The quality of Nearmap imagery, combined with its updates occurring more than once per year, are of enormous benefit to a variety of our uses and applications.”
Geoff Maas, Geospatial Business Analyst, Ramsey CountyImprove workflow efficiency and maximize coverage
Aerial imagery allows assessors to cover significantly more properties in less time compared to traditional field inspections. By conducting assessments remotely, teams can process a higher volume of properties daily, making it easier to meet deadlines and stay on top of assessment cycles.
For large jurisdictions with extensive areas to cover, this boost in efficiency is critical. Rather than spending weeks or months driving from site to site, assessors can access up-to-date images of entire neighborhoods or regions with just a few clicks — even if the area is hidden, has no direct access, is in a gated community, or is covered by trees. This reduces bottlenecks and allows teams to focus on other critical tasks, improving overall productivity.
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Prioritize site visits
While aerial imagery can significantly reduce the need for field visits, there will always be cases where an in-person inspection is necessary. The key is to prioritize field visits for properties that require special attention — whether it’s a complex commercial site, a large-scale development, or a property involved in a valuation dispute.
By using aerial imagery for routine assessments, assessors can focus field visits on these high-priority cases. This ensures that resources are allocated where they’ll have the most impact, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.
Access current and historical data
One of the key advantages of location intelligence is the ability to access both current and historical imagery of properties. This gives assessors the ability to review property changes over time without needing to conduct multiple site visits. Whether tracking new developments or reviewing past property conditions, aerial imagery provides an accurate, reliable record of how a property has evolved.
By eliminating the need for repeat visits to monitor ongoing changes, assessors can accelerate the assessment process while still ensuring that the data is current and defensible.
Unlock efficiency with Nearmap
Reducing field visits doesn’t mean compromising on accuracy, it means working smarter. With Nearmap location intelligence, government property assessors can conduct more assessments in less time, improve workflow efficiency, and prioritize field visits where they’re needed most.
By integrating location intelligence into your property assessment process, you can reduce costs, maximize coverage, and ensure that your team operates at peak efficiency — all while maintaining the highest standards of data accuracy and reliability.
Ready to reduce field visits and improve property assessment efficiency with location intelligence? Schedule a demo of Nearmap today.