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Track: Environmental Management
Michael Wild
GeoFields, Inc.
1201 W Peachtree Street Suite 3050
Atlanta, GA 30309
Telephone: 404-875-2550
Fax: 404-875-2442
E-mail: mwild@geofields.com
Brad Schaaf
Environmental Property Management Using Web-Enabled GIS
The effective management of property revolves around two things: time and money. To resolve these issues several questions must be answered, such as physical location of properties, potential value, regional growth, and environmental liability. Of these questions, environmental liability appears to control both time and money. Real, potential, or even perceived environmental problems can easily derail a property transfer or prevent resale or usage. It's not the GIS technician who needs to answer these questions but rather the banker, the accountant, the investor, and the lawyer who ultimately serve as the decision makers. Environmental liability is typically assessed with an environmental audit, commonly called a Phase I. These audits are more often than not, filled with couched evaluations, technical jargon and useless information specifically designed to protect the auditor from potential liability for mistakes. The decision-maker not only must manage potentially hundreds of properties, they must
translate the typical Phase I and adjust the property value accordingly. Effective property management requires rapid evaluation, value projection, and the ability to make seamless transfers. This can be accomplished with a two-tiered system. First, perform a realistic summarization of environmental liability, potential risk, and remedial cost using an outsourced, environmental agent. This agent should be impartial to environmental site issues and be able to direct environmental auditing consultants. Next, to make this a useful tool for the decision maker, a customized GIS should be implemented. This can be accomplished by (1) incorporating pertinent parcel information into a GIS database, (2) making this information available on an Internet/Intranet server, and (3) optimizing and streamlining the functionality of the GIS so that Internet browsers are used rather than traditional GIS software. This will require a clear definition of the needs of the user, a subsequent comparison to available
technology, and ultimate determination of potential application requirements. The environmental liability summarization can then be added into the system, equated to true value, and incorporated into the property evaluation. Case Study: Property management GIS for California real estate investment firm. Developed system has been summarized for environmental issues, is Web-enabled, and allows for parcel identification, rental information management, parcel layout, environmental liability evaluation, and projected value based on demographics, regional growth, and environmental impairment.
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