Parcel change detection

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for identifying property changes by analyzing differences between old and new imagery. In one embodiment, an administrator begins by creating a project with links to old and new imagery and uploading a file with parcel boundaries. The application may then divide the project into smaller batches and then automatically classify each batch. Analysts may then review these batches and reject those that are insufficiently accurate. For rejected batches, analysts may manually classify the parcels. Analysts may then review these batches again. In one embodiment, once all batches are accepted, the project may be marked as complete and suitable reports may be generated and sent. These reports may include a customer report which may include overall project statistics, a breakdown of changes by type, a heatmap showing which areas are changing fastest, and/or an estimated tax impact of the identified changes.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer-implemented method of identifying property changes, the method comprising:
 obtaining old and new imagery of a property from identified electronic sources;   displaying on an electronic display to a user the old and new imagery for the property; and   electronically receiving from the user through electronic means a classification of the property.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the old and new imagery of a property each comprise at least one of an overhead or oblique image of the property. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the classification of the property is indicative of whether the property has changed. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein if the classification identifies the property has changed, the method further comprises electronically receiving from the user a property change type. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising repeating the steps of a) obtaining old and new imagery of a property, b) displaying on an electronic display to a user the old and new imagery for the property, and c) electronically receiving from the user through electronic means a classification of the property for each of a plurality of properties. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising providing a subset of classified properties of the plurality of properties classified for review by at least one user and accepting or rejecting the plurality of properties classified based on the review of the subset of classified properties. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising displaying a map on the electronic display to a user, the map identifying classifications for at least a subset of the plurality of properties. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the map comprises a marker for each changed property of the at least a subset of the plurality of properties and each marker is colored to indicate a change type corresponding to the respective property. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising displaying on the electronic display information relating to change types of the at least a subset of the plurality of properties. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising displaying on the electronic display information relating to a tax impact of a change to the property. 
     
     
         31 . A computer-implemented method of identifying property changes, the method comprising:
 obtaining old and new imagery from identified electronic sources for each property of a plurality of properties, the old and new imagery for each property comprising at least one of an overhead or oblique image corresponding to the property;   using computer processing components to automatically classify each property based on a comparison of the old and new imagery corresponding to the property to obtain classified properties.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the computer processing components automatically classify a given property to indicate whether the property has changed between a time of the old imagery and a time of the new imagery. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein if the given property is classified as having changed, automatically classifying the property further comprises indicating a property change type. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein using computer processing components to automatically classify a given property comprises removing pixels outside of predetermined boundaries of the given property from the old and new imagery for the given property. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein using computer processing components to automatically classify a given property comprises at least partially combining the old and new imagery for the given property to construct a third imagery. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising training the computer processing components to automatically classify using training imagery and classifications from manually classified properties. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the training imagery is augmented using one or more of the following techniques: random warping, random translation, random scaling, random rotation, random transposing, randomized contrast, or random blurring. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising displaying on an electronic display information relating to a tax impact of a change to the given property. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising displaying a map on an electronic display, the map identifying classifications for at least a subset of the plurality of properties. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , wherein the map comprises a marker for each changed property of the at least a subset of the plurality of properties and each marker is colored to indicate a change type corresponding to the respective property.