Find vacant land and underused parking lots
GeoSpectre searches aerial imagery across a city or county for open land, vacant parcels and parking lots that are larger than the buildings they serve, and outlines and measures each one. Where ownership is public record, each site shows its owner, and in the largest US cities you can check its zoning district in the same place. Plans start at $49 a month.
How it works
- Choose the city, county or corridor
- Describe the land you are looking for
- Each site is outlined and measured, with its owner where public
- Check zoning, model the project and keep a shortlist
Searches you can run
- Vacant lots along the main road through town
- Parking lots larger than the building they belong to
- Undeveloped land between industrial buildings
Write the search the way you would brief a colleague. There is no fixed list of things to pick from.
What it can see from above
- Open and undeveloped land, outlined with its area measured
- Parking lots, and the cars visible in them when the picture was taken
- Surface condition of paved lots: faded striping, greying, patching
- What sits around a site: roads, buildings and neighbouring uses
What it cannot tell you
- Whether land is for sale, or held for a plan you cannot see
- Soil, contamination, easements or anything below ground
- How busy a lot is on other days: one picture is one moment
- Final permission to build, which only the local authority can give
The rest of the job, in the same workspace
Prospecting
Finds and measures the sites across the area.
Zoning
The zoning district and a first read on your intended use, in about 55 of the largest US cities and in England.
Financials
Model the development with your own assumptions and compare scenarios.
Monitoring
Watch the sites you keep and hear when a clear new picture arrives.
How can I find vacant land using satellite or aerial imagery?
Name the area and describe the land you want, for example vacant lots along a main road. GeoSpectre reads the aerial imagery across the area, outlines every open parcel that matches and measures it, and adds the owner on record where ownership is published.
Can it find parking lots that are underused?
It can find parking lots that look large for the building they serve and count the cars visible in each one in the picture. One picture is one moment, so treat a mostly empty lot as a lead to check, not proof that it is always empty.
Does it check zoning?
In about 55 of the largest US cities it reads the city’s own zoning map, shows the district at a site and gives a first read on whether your intended use fits it. Coverage elsewhere in the US is partial, and England is covered through national planning data. Always confirm with the local authority before you rely on it.
Does it show who owns the land?
Where a US county or state publishes parcel ownership as public record, each match can show the owner on record, the mailing address, the parcel number and, where published, the last sale, together with the source and the date of the record. Where ownership is not published, we do not look it up.
How much does it cost?
Pro is $49 a month for one person and covers up to 100 square miles of search a month. Business is $149 per person a month for teams of 2 to 49 and covers 250 square miles. Enterprise starts at 500 square miles; contact sales. Fresh imagery can be bought separately when the included imagery is too old for the job.
Related
- Find off-market properties from aerial imagery — Real estate prospecting
- Real estate site selection, starting from a description of the site — Site selection
- Real Estate & Development — Real estate and development
Describe the property you are looking for. See what it finds.
Pick an area you know and write the search in your own words. Pro is $49 a month for one person and starts with a 7-day free trial.