CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHTGRM CAMA SYSTEMS INTEGRATE WITH PICTOMETRY TECHNOLOGY

GRM CAMA SYSTEMS FROM THOMSON REUTERS ALONG WITH PICTOMETRY—HELP JURISDICTIONS INCREASE ACCURACY OF ASSESSED PROPERTIES County assessing officials across the globe continually seek better ways to provide their jurisdictions with the most accurate assessments using the most equitable means possible. Yet, the integration of a resourceful software system with Thomson Reuters GRM CAMA technologies offers a solution for insuring accurate data collection so that no property owners pays less taxes or more taxes than they should.

By adding Pictometry— a Thomson Reuters business partner—to their GRM CAMA systems, Thomson Reuters clients are easily identifying new and improved properties which in the past may have been difficult to accurately assess because of man-made obstructions such as fences, closed gates, and other visual limitations. In the process, the system is a tool in providing additional revenues for their jurisdictions.

“Using GRM customCAMA with Pictometry we can see just about everything, everywhere,” said Jack Flenniken, Director of Residential Valuation for Hillsborough County, Florida. “We’ve been able to find properties or improvements that previously were virtually impossible to see because of inaccessibility and obstructions. Pictometry gives us all the images and measurements and GRM customCAMA does the rest.”

Rob Turner, Hillsborough’s Property Appraiser, agreed. “From the start, GRM customCAMA has been a very effective and thorough system for

our county,” he said. “Now, with the integration of Pictometry we’ve been able to save time and money by reducing the number of site visits, while at the same time we have added more than six million dollars in valuation to our assessment rolls. The process of integration of Pictometry into our Thomson Reuters system was very easy, giving us a very powerful tool in our ongoing effort to accurately and fairly assess all of our county’s properties, assuming officials know that accurate data collection can be expensive. But this methodology is both accurate and affordable. ”

Pictometry’s geo-referenced aerial imaging and software captures 3D images that can be used to measure buildings and verify footprints of properties right from an assessor’s office. The combination of high resolution oblique and orthogonal imagery, coupled with electronic Field Study and Change software reduces the amount of site visits while easily measuring the square footage, perimeter and height of any structure from the convenience of the assessor’s staff desktops.

In Indiana’s Vanderburgh County, a GRM ProVal client, Thomson Reuters configured the Pictometry software as an easily accessible tab folder within the GRM system. “As county budgets continue to get tighter and tighter we have to find ways to do our jobs better with less,” said Bill Fluty, Vanderburgh County Assessor. “The integration of Pictometry into our GRM ProVal system is the best current technology available—an indispensable tool in this

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day and age. Now we can efficiently gather property information from our desks without having to send staff out to spend time in the field.” According to Fluty, the integration of Pictometry software within GRM ProVal allows his office to see new properties or changes to existing properties. “It is accurate data that helps us to know what needs to be picked up for the following assessment year. It may be an addition or something that has been removed. In either case our responsibility is to be accurate in our assessments and with the integrated system we can do exactly that.”

For another GRM ProVal client, the county regulations makes thorough assessment of all properties in the jurisdiction a bit more difficult “Our county does not require building permits so it’s pretty much just left up to us to find new properties or additions to properties,” said Wiley Harp, Director of Information Technology for Potter Randall Appraisal District in Texas. “You can imagine the challenge that these regulations present. However, using Pictometry software and its ChangeFindr feature which identifies and chronicles changes to a property—such as new construction, additions and demolition—we’ve been able to see the changes in both old and new property over the last four years. It has saved us a lot of on-field assessing money and brought in more revenue by giving us a more accurate view of all of our assessable properties.”

Thomson Reuters supports the integration of Pictometry within their client deployed GRM CAMA systems because the integration will allow assessors to uncover hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of new taxable property within their jurisdictions. Because all GRM CAMA systems are designed for integration with Pictometry, the input and organization of Pictometry gathered data into the GRM systems is automatic and seamless.

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT - GRM CAMA SYSTEMS INTEGRATE WITH PICTOMETRY TECHNOLOGY

“The integration of Pictometry into our GRM system is the best current technology available—an indispensable tool in this day and age.” BILL FLUTYCounty AssessorVanderburgh County, Indiana

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Creation Date: Jan 06, 2010 12:26Modification Date: Jan 24, 2010 18:36 Scale: 1 inch = 146.6 feet

Copyright ©2010 Pictometry International Corp.

Pictometry International Corp. is the worldwide leader in oblique aerial imagery and imaging software. Using its proprietary imaging process, Pictometry® captures geo-referenced, high-resolution oblique (at an angle) and orthogonal (straight down) Intelligent Images®, within which structures and land features can be accurately measured. Pictometry’s imagery and software enables users to “See Everywhere, Measure Anything, Plan Everything”® using a digital information system that is the only patented one-of-its-kind in the U.S. Headquartered in Rochester, NY, Pictometry has offices throughout the U.S. and Europe.