County assessor using HD aerial photography to track property improvements

Updated high-definition aerial photography will help the Cape Girardeau County assessor's office and the public in several key areas, officials said Thursday.

The online tool, accessible to the public at capecounty.us/assessor.aspx, is like "Google Maps on steroids," county assessor Bob Adams said after Thursday's county commission meeting.

Adams said the county's photos are in high definition, unlike typical satellite images.

Additionally, where satellite imagery gives a top-down, or ortho, photographic view, the county's online tool allows for oblique, or angled, viewing, said Tony Smee, chief appraiser with the county assessor's office.

The high-definition, oblique viewing allows the assessor's office staff to review the county's parcels from the office, which doesn't eliminate the need for fieldwork, but helps increase efficiency, Smee said.

Tony Smee

Cape Girardeau County has about 600 square miles, Smee said, parceled into about 37,000 tracts.

In Jackson and Cape Girardeau, anytime a structure is built or modified, a permit is issued, and the assessor's office is notified, Smee said.

The assessor is not automatically informed of any building changes in the county, so it isn't possible for the office's staff to keep track of all changes in the county, Smee said.

The aerial photography last was updated in 2015, Adams said, and also was shot in 2012 and 2009.

Smee said these images can be cross-referenced to show changes in a property's structure, and a "changefinder" program set to take place in mid-2018 will check properties against 2009 images to pinpoint updates.

A small test run of the "changefinder" program reviewed 4,600 parcels and revealed more than 250 improvements, Adams said, which were valued at nearly $4 million.

The 2018 "changefinder" check will show a lot of changes, Smee said, because it's covering a nine-year span, and more tracts will be checked.

EagleView/Pictometry of Rochester, New York, the company that provides the photography and software to help use it, will compare 2009 images against 2018. It then will provide a list, identified by parcel, with an indicator of a change between them, Smee said.

"It's a tool to help us identify changes," Smee said, although it's not solely for that purpose.

Smee said several members of the public use the free online tool, including engineers, surveyors, people in the real-estate field, even emergency-services personnel.

"We think it's a good use of taxpayer money because in addition to helping us here [at the assessor's office], it's a value-added benefit to the public," Smee said.

Smee said to hire enough people to go into the field and accomplish what the aerial photography does, the cost likely would be at least three times higher than the software, which isn't nearly as efficient or effective and doesn't have as many added benefits to the public as the online tool.

"It's more than just something to make my job easier," Smee said. "It's really there for all citizens of the county and to help people who are wanting to develop the county and emergency management."

The update will cost about $111,000, payable over three years, Adams said.

Adams said the city of Jackson has agreed to provide $20,000 toward the project, and he's negotiating with the city of Cape Girardeau.

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