What place COULD technology have in the CRE industry?
I’ve been working in CRE for a few months now as a researcher. I’ve come to see how obsolete a lot of the “technology” we use is.  I see an opportunity for tech to come in and revolutionize how the industry operates; at the least, there’s room for tech to bring systems &amp; methods up to date. Placer.ai is a solid example of CRE’s potential by embracing technology.

I wanted to know from some of you with more experience in the industry which aspects of CRE have either 1) the most room for improvement or 2) the highest ceiling for innovation/potential — by embracing some of the newest technology.

I ask this because I personally see the industry as desperately in need of modernization, but I don’t have the experience to know what/which areas need the most attention yet.

Thoughts?
[{"id": "igh1gai", "text": "It's not even adopting new tech, just embrace the long-existing technology. E.g.,\n\n* Digitize and make available all deeds in a centralized state-run/hosted database. Fuck having to drive to bumblefuck county seat just to get a photocopy of the deed so I can perform basic diligence.\n* Interactive zoning maps with tax parcel data for all municipalities. Have the county or state host it on an Arc online map. And link the map to eCode.", "replies": [{"id": "igh46fk", "text": "I agree - the industry\u2019s current technology needs to be brought up to speed before even trying to innovate.\n\nThe examples you gave would make things so much easier, especially for the appraisal guys I know. But they seem to be in the public sector\u2019s purview. What are some of the most pressing problems that you think the private sector could/should tackle using technology?", "replies": [{"id": "igjxqm5", "text": "Re: private sector solutions, IMO that's tough to answer since a lot of problems specifics are unique to firms' standards of protocol and/or legacy practices. A lot of the frustrations I've experienced can't be solved by any technological revolution so much as the firm moving toward, e.g., using shared workbooks/documents so that we're not overwriting files or create a dozen copies of the same thing in the war room.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ighly4f", "text": "Wow, I guess our county is lucky to have both of these ideas implemented already.", "replies": [{"id": "igj542q", "text": "in the US this is jurisdictional, not country wide.", "replies": [{"id": "igu8d9d", "text": "Right, I typed County", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "igp3zwq", "text": "The zoning and parcel maps at least where I\u2019m at are done via the local city/county. It would be great if the public agencies shared with each other but it seems like everyone is an island.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ighbry4", "text": "Most of the munis in my area have digitized, and have some variation of integrated GIS at the city and county level. So, no complaints there. GIS Data is also available for overlay into other systems like mapbox. Lucky me. \n\nMy biggest frustration is the process of finding and identifying subdivision and consolidation of parcels. Am so tired of reading tax docs and boundary adjustment notation...\n\nAlso, please don't get me started on the ux for the US Census data. It's like they had a contest to find the most roundabout way to accomplish a simple task. (I use census tracts not radius due to topographic issues).\n\nBut the real problems, as you've indicated, is ux and licensing issues. Plus having to navigate all of the various availability issues at the county and state level. That is a certified cluster. API and public data in some countys is only updated quarterly (yes, 4xs a year) on their website. Some states do not provide ownership info. Some counties keep their tax records in an excel sheet available as download off their website. \n\nSo you have 3 problems -\n\n1) devising a strategy that creates uniformity of data, and how to easily indicate when data is not available as well as the last updated date\n\n2) UX that is both informative and easy, and reporting that is visually interesting and useful.\n\n3) quality control while nodding to internal cost management (auto alerts for outliers, etc)\n\nSince I've been at it for 15 years, I will give you some hope and tell you it is SO MUCH BETTER than it used to be.", "replies": [{"id": "ighhnnq", "text": "I think you identified the current problems. I\u2019d add to the list uniformity of not just data, but also data collection &amp; entry. If you have that, you can begin to automate those tedious processes. But that\u2019s further down the line.\n\nI\u2019m guessing you\u2019re in valuation? I agree that public record documents and data could use some simplification and standardization. But I guess I\u2019m more interested in what the private sector can do to help (with these problems or others). I\u2019m asking because I\u2019d like to help catalyze CRE\u2019s adoption of more advanced technology, from a private interest standpoint. \n\nIt\u2019s good to know that it\u2019s trended in the right direction. I just think there\u2019s a huge opportunity to better integrate tech and CRE.", "replies": [{"id": "ightost", "text": "The problem with private catalyzation is that you could build processes and databases (a la  Zillow), but those still wouldn't be the authoritative datasets. The data should be managed at the local government GIS level and aggregated by the state, federal, or private industries. Many states already have data standards. And many states and private aggregates datasets exist and are served via ArcGIS services, but the quality is only as good as the local county data. It really is a matter of government funding to assessor and GIS departments. So your time might be best spent lobbying for better government GIS.\n\nAs far as simplifying data entry and data servicing, well there tools for that already- SOA, ArcGIS Survey Field Maps, Survey 123, etc. Back end processing of the data still takes time and skill. Gov GIS positions pay notoriously little money. Smart and  innovative professionals go elsewhere in their careers tbh.", "replies": [{"id": "igj6g0i", "text": "agreed wholehartedly. \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nWhile data that is altered by a non-gov host it becomes a 2nd tier source, the primary source data is often incomplete. In addition, maps (ARCGIS, Mapbox, OpenMaps etc) are great UX and most applicable to the data, but there is significantly more data to hash that isn't relative to the map itself. the map is a point of context.   \n\n\nIt's a piece of the puzzle. Instead of contracting and reimbursing jurisdictions directly for the invaluable data, almost all corps purchase data that has been collated (altered) by CoreLogix. Leaving many jurisdictions receiving pennies on the dollar to value of their data.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "igj3uzx", "text": "I am in valuation now, but i was in research for a commercial MLS and taught CRE tech for 12 years. While in valuation, i still have to get back to the source docs, in a decade of working with brokers the UX experience coupled with accurate info is really key.\n\nThere is a huge opportunity, but it has to start with the munis. Currently, the right-sizing happens at a third party level, and then is sold (no joke) to other users like Costar and such.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]