Profile the candidate site before anyone drives out.
Desktop review by hand
The desktop review is a map, a satellite view and a notes page, repeated for every address.
With Site Selection Map
Site Selection Map reads access, built form, parking and surrounding activity from very-high-resolution imagery and sets them out on one page per site, the same way each time.
- GSD
- ≤0.5 m (VHR)
- Cadence
- On demand
- Platform
- VHR satellite
- Spectral
- RGB
Where the desktop review runs out
An agent sends over a batch of particulars and your own long list has grown again. You open the map, flip to satellite, check the street view, and write down where the access points are, what is standing on the plot and how many bays the car park holds, counted by eye. Then the next address, in whatever layout you used last time.
By the time the shortlist is due for committee, the profiles of the sites are all different pages. The ones that look good on paper still need a visit to find out whether the yard turns or the entrance is where the map says.
The desktop review, row by row
01Cutting the long list
- Desktop review by hand
- You work down the addresses in the order they arrived and give each one whatever time is left in the day.
- With Site Selection Map
- Every address gets the same one-page profile, so the long list can be read side by side before you pick which sites to look at closely.
02Access points
- Desktop review by hand
- You trace the road frontage on satellite and street views and note where vehicles can get in and out.
- With Site Selection Map
- The profile marks the access points visible in the imagery and notes where they meet the surrounding roads.
03Built form
- Desktop review by hand
- You sketch or describe what is on the plot from the satellite view: how many buildings, roughly where they sit.
- With Site Selection Map
- The profile summarises the built form from the imagery, set out the same way for every site.
04Parking
- Desktop review by hand
- You count bays on the image by eye, which is slow on a large lot and varies from one person to the next.
- With Site Selection Map
- A visible parking count comes with the profile, marked approximate where trees or structures hide the bays.
05Surrounding activity
- Desktop review by hand
- You scroll the map around the site and make notes on what neighbours it.
- With Site Selection Map
- The profile gives the land-use context seen in the imagery around the site, in a fixed set of fields.
06The visit and the decision
- Desktop review by hand
- You visit the sites that look right, walk the boundary and take the call to committee.
- With Site Selection Map
- You pick which sites to visit from profiles that sit side by side.
- Still yours
- The site visit, the planning and title checks, any demographic or traffic work, and the decision.
What you get for each address
- PDF
One-page site profile
Access points, built form, visible parking count and surrounding activity for one address, on a page you can drop into the committee paper or the site file. It is built on request, and it serves the access, built form, parking and surrounding activity rows above.
- CSV
Profile fields as a row
The same fields as one row per address, so a batch lands in your shortlist spreadsheet and sorts the way the rest of it does. This is the long-list row of the ledger.
- On every profile
Capture date
The date of the image the profile was built on, printed on the page, so you know how current the read is for that location.
How it works
The address list
Send the candidate site as an address. If you have a batch from an agent or a requirement, send it together.
Imagery pulled
We pull very-high-resolution imagery for each site and its immediate surroundings.
Fields read
Access, built form, parking and surrounding activity are read from the imagery into the same fields for every address.
Profiles back
You get the one-page PDF and the fields as a CSV, each with its capture date. Ask whenever the long list changes; there is no cycle to wait for. Use the profiles to choose the visits, then take the shortlist to committee as you do now.
Limits
What the desktop review still does better
The profile comes from imagery. It shows what is visible from above and goes before a site visit. Whether the yard turns, what the ground is like and how the entrance feels to drive in are still found on foot.
Imagery currency varies
How recent the picture is depends on the latest usable pass over that location. The capture date is on every profile. A site that has changed since then will not show the change.
Trees and structures
Canopy, shadow and roofs can hide bays and edges. Where they do, the parking count is marked approximate or left out.
Resolution floor
At 0.5 m a pixel is 50 cm across, so a parking bay is a few pixels wide. Counting bays and finding vehicle entrances works. Kerb detail, line markings and signage do not show.
No people or traffic data
Demographic, footfall and traffic-count data stay out of the profile, which is built from imagery alone.
No set turnaround
Profiles are built on request. We do not promise a delivery time.
Who it's for
Switch if
- You profile candidate sites for a retail or industrial developer and do the desktop review by hand
- You cut long lists down to shortlists and want the same fields for every address
- You want a first read before you spend a visit
Stick with your desktop review if
- You need demographic, footfall or traffic-count data in the profile
- You want the profile to stand in for a site visit or for due diligence
- You need a delivery time fixed in advance
Questions before your first site
Does this replace a site visit?
No. It is a desktop-level first read that helps you decide which sites merit a visit.
How do we check it against our own desktop review?
Take a few sites you have already profiled, send the addresses without your notes, and compare our fields with yours.
How current is the imagery?
It depends on the most recent usable pass over that location. The capture date is printed on every profile.
Does it include demographic or traffic-count data?
No. The profile is built from imagery only: access, built form, parking and visible surrounding activity.
What if trees or buildings hide part of the site?
Some fields, the parking count most of all, can come back approximate or unavailable. The profile says so.
What do we send and what comes back?
The address. You get a one-page PDF and the same fields as a CSV, with the capture date.
Will it open in our systems?
It comes as a PDF and a CSV. We do not write into your shortlist, GIS or deal systems.
Who owns the imagery and the profiles?
Ownership and licence terms are agreed in writing when you get started. If your legal team needs them earlier, ask.
How is it bought and priced?
Terms are agreed when you get started. Tell us roughly how many addresses you work in a typical month and we will come back to you.
Get a profile for the next site on your list.
Send us an address from the long list. We will tell you what the imagery can show for it.