Philadelphia Goes High-Tech to Monitor Vacant Properties

The city of Philadelphia has deployed high-tech sensors and a new statistical model in its ongoing fight against the blight and health problems that follow vacant and abandoned properties.

1 minute read

December 18, 2016, 9:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Philadelphia

Gary Paul Lewis / Shutterstock

Claudius Vargas reports on the new high tech methods implemented by Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) to monitor vacant properties.

"L&I has developed a high-tech model to determine which properties might be vacant and imminently dangerous before an inspector sets foot on the property," writes Vargas.

The model is built first with high-tech data collection. The city "has new light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology, which allows inspectors and L&I staff to look at aerial shots of homes and determine which might have collapsing roofs," explains Vargas. "The system, using laser imaging, shows a color range to signal height disparities across a property's roof."

Once that data, and others, are collected, L&I staff use a scoring system between 1 and 49 to rate the safety of vacant and abandoned properties—the higher the number, the more dangerous the property.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 in The Philadelphia Inquirer

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