Why Geospatial Intelligence is the Next Battleground for Proptech's

In the past 12 months, technology has advanced more swiftly than it did over the previous five years combined. What we can already learn from this is that achieving a competitive edge in this new proptech era isn't merely about having the sexiest new AI tool or the deepest data lake. It's about possessing the most relevant data, provided through the most user-friendly tool, and making sure that information is actionable for every user at every stage of their property lifecycle.

Geospatial Data: The Unsexy Backbone of Innovation

Geospatial data, or more simply put, “data with an address”, is fundamentally reshaping how we build, buy, and sell property. Yet, for all the hype around AI, it’s easy to forget that even the smartest models are only as good as the data they ingest. In property, the stakes are high: buyers are making the biggest investment of their lives, but often have less insight than they’d get shopping for a toaster. The gap is glaring, and for many, it’s an opportunity.

Portals Are Evolving

The last decade has seen property portals race to layer in more data: from Homes.com’s rich data overlays (they are pretty special) to the OG of Zillow’s “Zestimate” AVM. The battle for eyeballs is no longer about (just) who has the most listings, but who can surface the most relevant, trustworthy insights to sit alongside them. Think flood risks, legal boundaries, school catchments, and environmental risks, all delivered at exactly the right moment in the user journey.

Education, Liability, and the Shifting Value Chain

So as portals and other emerging proptech solutions become the primary educators, who owns the risk if the data is wrong? And if you do freely hand over the gold of professional-grade insights to the end user, what happens to the traditional roles of agents, surveyors, and solicitors? Then there is the commercial dilemma: will a “free data” culture set a price floor that’s hard to break, or will it become the norm for users to DIY and pay for premium, actionable insights directly, if the value is clear?

The Real Challenge: Clarity Over Quantity

It’s not about drowning users in data; too much of a good thing is just, well, too much. The winners will be those who translate complex geospatial intelligence into clear, accessible experiences that drive confident decisions. That means investing in user-centric design, immersive and enjoyable mapping experiences, all while protecting your IP and margins against price erosion and the ever-present dark cloud of data theft... or we can be friendly and call it scraping.

Create your niche

• Geospatial accuracy is your differentiator. Aggregated data is table stakes; precision is what sets you apart.

• Design for clarity. Smart, accessible data visualisation is critical to user engagement and trust, investment in top of the game UX data design will thank you for years to come.

• Monetise premium data. Explore D2C and B2B models, don't be afraid to challenge the build, buy, or partner decisions to unlock new revenue streams before someone else takes them out.

• Engage dormant audiences. Owner-data propositions can expand your addressable market by 10x. The red sea of the transaction customers is bloody, there is a whole ocean of dormant owners waiting to be set alight.

• Move fast. The market is shifting, consumer demand is already on that self serve dusty road, don’t wait for regulation or competitors to dictate your next move.

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This blog post is a summary of a presentation delivered at the European Property Portal Watch Conference in Barcelona, October 2024.

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