Parcel View started with a simple belief: researching property in California shouldn't require opening dozens of government websites just to answer a few basic questions.
After experiencing firsthand how natural hazards—especially wildfires—can affect communities and property decisions, I became interested in making California's public land data easier to access and understand. I quickly realized that valuable information was scattered across county GIS portals, FEMA maps, CAL FIRE hazard layers, planning documents, soil surveys, geological maps, and countless other public resources.
I built Parcel View specifically for California because buying or owning land here comes with challenges that many people don't fully understand. Every parcel tells a different story. Wildfire hazards, flood risks, fault zones, soils, zoning regulations, environmental protections, planning policies, and other constraints can all influence what is possible on a property, yet this information is often difficult to find, interpret, and connect.
My goal is to map as many aspects of California land as possible and make that information understandable for everyone—not just planners, engineers, or GIS professionals. Whether someone is purchasing their first piece of land, researching an investment, or simply curious about a property, I want Parcel View to help them learn about the hazards, opportunities, and characteristics that make every parcel unique.
Parcel View doesn't replace government agencies or professional advice. Instead, it brings together official public data into one organized place, helping people ask better questions, understand California's complex landscape, and make more informed decisions with confidence.
Why use Parcel View instead of…
County GIS alone
County portals are authoritative — but they rarely combine FEMA, CAL FIRE, statewide zoning reference, soils, and general plan layers in one address search. Parcel View unifies statewide datasets and hands you back to the county map to verify.
Nationwide parcel-map products
Products such as Land id® (formerly MapRight), Acres, and Regrid excel at boundaries, ownership context, and map exploration. Parcel View is a separate California-first tool optimized for first-pass due diligence: hazard screening, planning overlays, constraint signals, official source links, and a structured summary — in minutes, not after assembling layers yourself. Those names are their trademarks; we mention them only to explain how Parcel View differs.
Doing it manually
Experienced professionals still spend hours per parcel opening separate agency websites. Parcel View automates the intersection step so you spend time on judgment and verification, not hunting tabs.
What you get
- Address or APN search with statewide parcel boundaries
- Progressive screening across zoning, flood, fire, soils, geology, and planning layers
- Parcel summary with indicator levels and data coverage notes
- Official source links on every result row
- Interactive map for spatial exploration
- Intelligence assistant for plain-English follow-up
Why trust it
Parcel View does not invent data. It intersects publicly available GIS layers maintained by federal, state, and county agencies — FEMA NFHL, CAL FIRE, USDA SSURGO, California Geological Survey, CA DWR parcel boundaries, and county planning reference layers.
Every screening output is designed to be verified. When data is missing or stale, we say so. Official maps and planning staff always have the final word.
What Parcel View is not
Parcel View is a powerful first-pass screening tool. It is not a survey, title report, zoning determination, engineering analysis, legal opinion, insurance determination, or development approval.
Public GIS can be incomplete, generalized, or misaligned with on-site conditions. Confirm all material findings with the appropriate city, county, or state agency — and licensed professionals when decisions have real consequences.
Parcel View at a glance
- What is Parcel View?
- A California-focused parcel screening platform that combines public GIS layers for first-pass land due diligence.
- Geographic coverage
- All 58 California counties — cities, unincorporated areas, and statewide hazard datasets.
- What information does it screen?
- Zoning references, FEMA flood zones, CAL FIRE wildfire hazard, soils, slope, geology, planning overlays, and related public datasets.
- Is Parcel View an official government service?
- No. It is an informational tool that links back to official city, county, state, and federal sources for verification.
- How should findings be verified?
- Confirm material results with the governing planning/building department, FEMA Map Service Center, CAL FIRE/OSFM, and licensed professionals when decisions have consequences.
Where we're headed
We're expanding coverage, improving screening speed, and building a California-trained intelligence layer so you can ask follow-up questions in plain English — always grounded in official context and clearly labeled as informational.
The goal stays the same: help anyone researching California land get to the important questions faster, with transparency about what the data does and does not prove.