Maricopa County, Arizona Awards Pictometry Contract for Assessment Tool Kit

ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The fourth largest assessment jurisdiction in the United States (by parcel count) has signed a contract with Pictometry International Corp. for a suite of assessment technologies featuring Pictometry imagery and analytics.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110922/NY73591LOGO)

"It is a daunting challenge each year to assess nearly 1.6 million parcels but it isn't a new challenge or one that is unique to us," said Tim Boncoskey, Chief Deputy Assessor for Maricopa County. "Many assessing departments are looking for efficient ways to make sure the assessment is done fairly and equitably throughout the world. Pictometry's suite of imagery and analytics will help us target areas with residential and commercial redevelopment for aerial review, as well as provide oblique images to our constituents on our parcel visualization maps. We will deploy field resources only after appropriate 'in-house' validation has been completed in this new project," he added.

Maricopa County will start using an innovative and proven image-based technology for automating a portion of the change detection process that is compliant with assessment standards set by the IAAO. The technology is called Pictometry ChangeFindr™ and Boncoskey's appraisal team is using it to accurately identify property changes from a computer desktop. As a result, the need for many costly and time-consuming inspections is being eliminated, saving the County time and resources while ensuring fair and equitable assessments.

"I believe in government transparency and efficiency, and the Pictometry images when loaded into our public facing website will combine the best data that the County has on parcels with the best imagery available in the world," said two-term elected Maricopa County Assessor Keith E. Russell, MAI.

"With government budgets shrinking and the cost of fuel increasing, Maricopa County is investing in technologies that enable County employees to perform multiple tasks that previously required field visits, directly from the computer in their office. This translates into a better environment, less exposed risk, and a more efficient way of doing business," said Marta Dent, Geographic Information Officer for Maricopa County.

"With imagery coverage of more than 85 percent of the U.S. population, over 1,500 Municipal and County government agencies across the country are utilizing Pictometry technologies in multiple departments including Assessment, GIS and Public Safety," according to Robert Locke, President of Pictometry Government Solutions. In Maricopa County, Pictometry imagery and software is being shared with a consortium that includes cities, towns, special districts and Native American communities.

Maricopa County is implementing the full IAAO Standard 3.3.5 for maximizing efficiencies and is considered by many in the industry to be exemplary in its use of cost-effective technologies like those available from Pictometry. Pictometry offers a suite of assessment products including street view imagery and a sketch verification software program called Pictometry Sketch Check. To learn more, visit www.pictometry.com.

About Pictometry -- Pictometry International Corp., the leading provider of data-rich aerial Imagery, Analytics, Integrations and Reports, specializes in the capture of high-resolution aerial oblique imagery. Using its patented capture technology, Pictometry produces imagery that is among the highest quality, highest resolution imagery in the world. Geo-referenced and accurate for location-based planning, Pictometry® Intelligent Images™ enable users to measure sites and structures for area, distance, height, elevation and more – without leaving the office. Assessment, Insurance, Construction, Oil & Gas and other industries use Pictometry imagery daily, overlaying it with GIS data and integrating it into existing systems to create an enterprise-wide productivity tool. Pictometry's vast image library of 145 million data-rich images is continually-updated and includes imagery captured in 150 countries and territories around the world including all major U.S. markets. Pictometry International Corp. is based in Rochester, NY. To learn more, visit us online at www.pictometry.com.

SOURCE Pictometry International Corp.