Zaio Corp., a Canadian-based public corporation that works with appraisers and photographers to build a database of property photos, valuations and other information for entire cities in the United States and Canada, announced this week that the company has built customer relationships in about 170 U.S. cities.

The company has segmented cities into zones, and each of the company-defined zones has a population of about 30,000 people and is operated by a Zaio “Zone Photographer” and “Zone Appraiser,” according to information at the company’s Web site.

The photographer snaps images of the front exterior view of every property in the zone as it appears from the street or other public space, according to the description. When an entire zone has been photographed, they are integrated into the company’s database.

“Commercial images appear on Zaio’s visual search engine while residential images are secured and password protected,” the site states. The company also creates virtual tours for businesses.

Zaio is also working to gather appraisals for “each and every property in cities across the country. That means every house, commercial building, industrial and institutional structure is being photographed and appraised property-by-property and street-by-street. We call this historic event ‘Photographing America.”

Other companies, such as Microsoft (at http://preview.local.live.com/), Amazon (at a9.com), and Property Research Partners LLC (at PropertyShark.com) have worked to build a photograph database of properties.

In its announcement, the company stated that it sold 125 licenses in November, generating about $1 million.

Zaio CEO Thomas Inserra said in a statement, “Both lenders and appraisers have been asking us to aggressively expand our operations throughout the United States as quickly as possible.” Zaio has sold about 450 licenses in 2006, he also stated.

Brad Stinson, founder of Zaio, said in a statement that appraisers can participate in online interactive Web broadcasts to learn about the company.

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
Only 3 days left to register for Inman Connect Las Vegas before prices go up! Don't miss the premier event for real estate pros.Register Now ×
Limited Time Offer: Get 1 year of Inman Select for $199SUBSCRIBE×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×