Press Release · August 15, 2018 · Minneapolis
Pushpin announced today that it has completed a contract with Pope County, Minnesota to perform parcel change detection leveraging Pushpin's patent-pending machine learning platform. Under the contract, Pushpin analyzed the county's parcels using aerial imagery from 2013 and 2017. Pushpin determined that 7% of the properties had changes that affect assessed value including additions, decks, flatwork, garages, pools, sheds, and new construction. The county appraisers then reviewed these changed parcels and updated the tax roll accordingly.
"Pushpin enabled us to increase property tax equity and revenue by identifying parcels with changes, but no relevant permits. Without Pushpin, it may have been years before we discovered these changes," says Michael Wacker, Pope County Assessor. "Pushpin is leveraging machine learning to accelerate a process that historically has been slow and expensive. Their approach provided an excellent return on investment for our office."
"It has been a pleasure working with Pope County. They are leveraging cutting-edge techniques to minimize expenses and maximize equity," says Randy Milbert, Chief Executive Officer, Pushpin. "I am looking forward to future projects with Pope County as they collect updated imagery."
About the Pope County Assessor
Pope County is in west central Minnesota. The county seat is Glenwood. The Pope County assessor oversees the valuation and classification of all real property in the county. The assessor also appraises and classifies certain personal property for ad valorem property tax. The Pope County board of commissioners first appointed Michael Wacker to the county assessor position in 2013. For more information, please visit https://www.co.pope.mn.us/assessor.php.
About Pushpin
Founded in 2015 and based in Minneapolis, Pushpin believes that people and computers intelligently combined can solve difficult mapping challenges better, faster, and cheaper than the alternatives. Pushpin works with tech-forward customers and partners to dramatically increase automation, accelerate workflows, and decrease costs. Pushpin applies patent-pending deep learning algorithms to aerial and satellite imagery to identify parcel changes, extract building footprints, and estimate impervious areas. Pushpin's customers include Carson City, Nevada; Hillsborough County, Florida; Lee County, Florida; Maricopa County, Arizona; and Pope County, Minnesota. For more information, please visit https://pushpin.us.