So you want to develop land?
September 12, 2007 9:57 amFiled in GIS, Real Estate Where do you begin? If you are new to development or new to a geographic area it can be a daunting task to find property.
In the past, developers or investors have found property through brokers, colleagues or by driving. Advancements in technology, GIS (geographic information systems) combined with aerial photography, allow developers to search for land from their computer.
How is this possible? To make a long story short, many government agencies have moved their information on-line. Everything from court records to property records. The information is great, but searching the information can be difficult. The only available search options are by parcel number, owner name or address. Most often, when looking for a property, I would only know the characteristics I am looking for in a property: size (acres); general location (city) and zoning.
So, how can GIS help me find land? GIS is an excellent tool for inputting criteria and obtaining results. I could do the same thing in a spreadsheet document, but viewing data on a map is much easier. To find the land I need, I would enter my search criteria in the area I want to search, say Polk County, and view my results either in tabular format or on a map. The map is important because now I can see what other buildings, subdivisions or roads are near the parcel. Before GIS and aerial photography this was only accomplished by taking a trip to the location. Think of the time saving potential!
