GPS World

Tag: property damage

  • In Hurricane Irma’s wake, EagleView captures imagery of property damage

    Post-Irma hurricane damage is captured in aerial imagery by EagleView.
    Post-Irma hurricane damage is captured in aerial imagery by EagleView.

    EagleView Technologies has captured post event aerial imagery of two million properties in the state of Florida following Hurricane Irma.

    EagleView is a provider of aerial imagery and property data analytics for government agencies, insurance carriers and other private-sector organizations,

    With an image library dating back to 2002 in the state of Florida, EagleView is able to provide emergency services, public safety agencies, property assessors and county GIS departments with ample imagery from before and after Hurricane Irma occurred. Combining high-resolution imagery and advanced machine learning capabilities, EagleView can identify the severity of property damage following a hurricane or other extreme weather event.

    “Hurricane Irma inflicted severe damage on properties all over Florida and affected millions of people throughout the state,” said EagleView President Rishi Daga. “With a view of more than two million properties in Florida, we are assisting the agencies that use our imagery with their efforts, so they can continue to help all of those who have been affected.”

    The two million properties have been photographed via specialized camera rigs in fixed-wing aircraft. The images are taken from an orthogonal (top-down) perspective as well as at oblique angles from all four cardinal directions. Oblique aerial imagery enables insurance claims adjusters to view all sides of a home’s exterior and gives emergency response crews greater insight into the storm’s effects in their communities.

    “Our goal was to begin capturing and processing imagery as soon as possible to assist in recovery efforts, and we have done so at record speed,” said Jay Martin, Senior Vice President of Operations at EagleView. “Our next phase is to put boots on the ground and complete property inspections up close using drones as part of our EagleView OnSite solution.”

    Post-hurricane image capture and processing will continue to take place throughout the upcoming weeks.

    EagleView is completing the phase of image capture via fixed-wing aircraft and will soon move in to completing property inspections with the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), bringing post-event data directly to insurance claims adjusters.

    As of Sept. 18, thousands of drone inspections have been scheduled through Friday, Sept. 22.

  • CoreLogic Introduces Proprietary Wind Verification Technology

    CoreLogic has introduced wind verification technology that will improve the accuracy and timing of insurance claims related to severe wind damage. The new technology combines proprietary three-dimensional storm models, storm-tracking models and artificial intelligence models with radar data, on-the-ground observations and actual damage reports to analyze wind conditions.

    The scientific and observation-based Wind Speed Maps and Wind Verification Reports from CoreLogic provide updated wind activity analysis at the property level every hour, drawing from data going back as early as 2006. CoreLogic Wind Speed Maps and Wind Verification Reports provide granular wind speed magnitudes that allow insurance professionals to verify if and when severe winds were detected at or near a specific location in order to make more precise damage assessments and, in some cases, avoid an on-site inspection.

    Previously, insurers relied on airport-based and private weather observation station measurements, which can lead to significant ambiguity, as these observations represent a single stationary location and are not representative of activity at the property level. Instant report delivery, as well as custom workflow integration, enhances the ability of insurers to reduce time for claims decisions and processing, CoreLogic said.

    To help adjusters verify what the loss was during a particular policy period and corroborate policyholders’ claims, the Wind Verification Reports provide data on every severe windstorm event dating back to January 2006, including hurricanes, thunderstorms, straight-line winds, Chinooks, Santa Ana winds, coastal lows and “derechos,” which are widespread, long-lived straight-line wind storms. The reports include estimated maximum wind speed magnitudes within one, three and ten miles of a location enabling accurate assessment of when and where severe winds likely impacted properties.

    More timely and accurate wind data, together with the new technology, will help mitigate against fraudulent claims which have traditionally been prevalent with wind-related storms given the broad geographic assessments of wind activity that were previously relied upon.

    “Insurance carriers and adjusters are responsible for making difficult decisions, and it helps to have an objective source to guide the decision-making process, whether it’s for evaluating entire books of business or processing individual wind-related claims,” said Lindene Patton, global head of hazard product development for CoreLogic. “This unique technology provides an element of quality assurance that simply hasn’t been available to the industry before now. Wind verification through scientific observation is going to mean more efficient and effective claims, which will reduce time, mitigate fraud and improve bottom-line results for claims adjusters.”

    Wind and hail claims are one of the largest categories of property damage expenses each year. In fact, $30 out of every $100 collected for a homeowner’s insurance premium goes toward wind and hail claim payments, with the majority of claims involving roof damage. From 2007 to 2011, the average claim was $7,177, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

    “Wind is one of nature’s most difficult hazards to measure, and for the past century, the industry has depended on unreliable sources,” Patton said. “Wind speeds and direction reported from an airport weather vane can be 20-100 miles away from where a specific wind event occurred and do not represent actual conditions and storm impact at the property level. Wind speeds can vary dramatically over very short distances because of variance in topography and land use, so it’s important to evaluative activity at the granular level.”

  • CoreLogic Identifies U.S. States at Risk of Property Loss from Natural Hazards

    Corelogic-hazard-9-9-2014

    CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, has released an analysis ranking Florida as the U.S. state with the highest level of comprehensive risk exposure to multiple natural hazards, with Michigan identified as the state with the lowest risk.

    The analysis was derived from the new CoreLogic Hazard Risk Score (HRS), an analytics tool launched today that gathers data on multiple natural hazard risks and combines them into a single easy-to-use score ranging from 0 to 100. The overall score indicates risk exposure at the individual property and location level.

    For every geocoded location across the U.S, the CoreLogic HRS is compiled using data representing nine natural hazards: flood, wildfire, tornado, storm surge, earthquake, straight-line wind, hurricane wind, hail and sinkhole. Locations with higher risk levels are exposed to multiple hazard risks and will, therefore, receive higher scores when the risk analysis is aggregated. Subsequently, locations with minimal risk levels have lower exposure and receive lower scores. Geocoded locations are generated at the property-address level using latitude and longitude coordinates and include both residential and commercial properties.

    “Florida’s high level of risk is driven by the potential for hurricane winds and storm surge damage along its extensive Atlantic and Gulf coastline, as well as the added potential for sinkholes, flooding and wildfires. Michigan alternatively ranks low for most natural hazard risks, other than flooding,” said Dr. Howard Botts, vice president and chief scientist for CoreLogic Spatial Solutions.

    The proprietary CoreLogic HRS is able to calculate risk based on a 10 x 10 meter grid, the lowest level of granularity available for the underlying hazard data. In calculating the overall score, both the probability of an event and the frequency of past events are significant contributing factors used to determine risk levels associated with individual hazards, as well as each distinct hazard’s risk contribution to total loss. The data is combined into an aggregated, consistent and normalized value that allows statistically valid combinations to be derived.

    “In the past, natural hazards have been difficult to compare and combine in a meaningful way,” said Dr. Botts. “Hazard Risk Score is a single solution that measures risk concentration consistently and pinpoints the riskiest places in the U.S. with timely and granular accuracy. This insight is critical in conducting comparative risk management nationwide and fully understanding exposure to potential natural hazard damage.”

    Insurers, risk managers and mortgage servicers can use CoreLogic Hazard Risk Score to improve decision-making and enhance a variety of business operations, including:

    • Business continuity and disaster recovery planning
    • Analyzing risk associated with a residential property or portfolios of properties
    • Measuring mitigation savings vs. total hazard potential damage
    • Evaluating and determining natural hazard risk levels of distribution and supplier networks
    • Recognizing which underinsured or uninsured properties may become at risk of default
    • Adverse selection avoidance and identification of “good risk” properties

    U.S. Natural Hazard Risk by State* (Ranked by CoreLogic Hazard Risk Score)

    Rank State HRS

    1FL94.51

    2RI79.67

    3LA79.23

    4CA75.56

    5MA72.12

    6KS69.51

    7CT69.04

    8OK66.82

    9SC66.38

    10DE65.38

    11OR64.89

    12NJ61.54

    13IA61.02

    14TX60.89

    15NC59.72

    16MO57.81

    17DC57.33

    18MS57.05

    19AR56.7

    20NH55.3

    21ID52.75

    22MD52.28

    23CO51.88

    24NE51.86

    25IL51.8

    26IN50.74

    27GA50.58

    28NV50.12

    29AL49.42

    30KY47.34

    31TN46.48

    32UT45.22

    33NM43.76

    34AZ42.81

    35VA42.35

    36WA42.3

    37WI38.52

    38SD38.24

    39MT37.91

    40MN36.42

    41OH34.61

    42ME31.64

    43WY30.24

    44PA28.79

    45VT28.31

    46ND27.5

    47NY24.97

    48WV20.67

    49MI20.22

    Source: CoreLogic 2014.

    * AK and HI were excluded in the ranking due to limited natural hazard risk data.