Location, Inc. owns millions of data points about local weather, crime, demographics, real estate and more. The platform, which owns NeighborhoodScout, will now make much of that data available for purchase on its own.
Instead of selling only data products that already turn its vast quantities of data into a usable product, Location, Inc. is now making its data available via an application programming interface, or API. That means that other tech companies and developers can use Location, Inc.’s data to develop their own products.
“We are excited to give our insurance, real estate and enterprise clients the ability to pick and choose the data elements that drive their specific websites, applications and businesses,” Location, Inc. CEO Andrew Schiller said in a statement. “Getting this level of location intelligence, from one trusted source, is key – whether our clients are focused on lead generation, product improvement or internal analysis and enhanced ROI efforts.”
The company expects that rather than real estate agents and brokers themselves purchasing data and incorporating it into their websites, tech providers that serve agents and brokerages will take advantage of Location, Inc.’s data in developing their products and websites. In particular, Location, Inc. expects to serve national and large regional brokerages, investors and real estate portals.
Right now, the company through NeighborhoodScout serves more than 1 million users — not enterprise clients — a month, the vast majority of whom are in the real estate industry. API plans for companies will cost a minimum of $6,000 a year, a spokesperson said.
The company anticipates that tech providers will use this data and API to customize client and agent websites with hyper-local data, in a fashion similar to how realtor.com already uses Location, Inc. data, the company said.
Use of much of this data can get tricky in residential real estate, where specific demographic data shared by real estate agents could violate fair housing laws. Location, Inc. said that it relies on its “customers to know and understand how to use the data that they license in a fashion compliant with the regulatory environment of their specific industry” and that will continue to be the case as outside parties use Location, Inc.’s data through its API.
