Stop waiting on a complaint to find out what got built.
Permit Compliance checks footprint, height and setback against the permit file for every permit on your list, each quarter, and hands you a flag per permit. You decide where the next site visits go.
- 1Permitted envelope
- 2As-built footprint
- 3Flag: diverges
- 4Lot line
- GSD
- ≤0.5 m (VHR)
- Cadence
- Quarterly
- Platform
- VHR satellite / aerial
- Spectral
- RGB
Today
The call comes in first
A neighbour phones about a garage that looks too close to the lot line. You pull the permit file, read the approved site plan, drive out and tape it. That is how most checking gets done, one complaint at a time, in whatever order people call.
The permits nobody phones about stay unread. When a notice gets challenged, the question is what you measured and how, and a single tape reading in a field notebook is thin.
The same permit list, checked two ways
01Choosing where to go
Complaint-drivenThe next complaint decides the next site visit, and an officer's own drive-bys fill the gaps.
Quarterly auditEvery permit on your list gets a flag each quarter, or a note that the pass could not see it, so the visits go to the ones that diverge first.
Still yoursThe decision to visit, and in what order.
02Footprint against the approved plan
Complaint-drivenSomeone reads the site plan in the permit file and paces or tapes the building on the ground.
Quarterly auditThe footprint measured from the imagery gets laid over the permitted footprint, and the extra ground it covers is shown.
03Height against the elevations
Complaint-drivenA ladder, a laser or a guess from the street, and only where someone got out to look.
Quarterly auditHeight comes from a 3D model built out of the imagery pass, compared with the height the permit approved.
04Setback from the lot line
Complaint-drivenA tape from the wall to the boundary stake, when the stake can be found.
Quarterly auditThe measured distance from the building to your site boundary, set against the setback the permit requires.
05Building the case for a notice
Complaint-drivenField notes, photos, a sketch, and the officer's word on how it was measured.
Quarterly auditA diagram of built against permitted, with the measured divergence per permit, attached to the case before anyone drives out.
Still yoursThe site visit that confirms it, and the notice itself.
What lands each quarter
One set of files per quarterly pass, tied to the permit numbers you sent.
CSV
Compliance flag per permit
One row per permit: the permit ID and a flag of matches, exceeds or diverges. It opens in the spreadsheet or case system you already use, and it is the list you sort before scheduling visits.
Ledger rowChoosing where to go
PDF
As-built against as-permitted diagram
Footprint and height drawn over the permitted envelope for each flagged permit. It goes in the case file and in front of the supervisor before a visit gets booked.
Ledger rowBuilding the case for a notice
GeoPackage
Enforcement-ready export
Permit ID, flag and measured divergence for every permit, with geometry, for your GIS. Load it next to your parcel and zoning layers.
Ledger rowSetback from the lot line
One audit pass a quarter
You send the permits once. The audit comes back every quarter.
Before the first pass
Send the permit list
The permit numbers with a site boundary for each, and the footprint, height and setback each permit allows.
Each quarter
Imagery pass
Very high resolution satellite or aerial imagery over your permit sites, taken inside the quarter.
Analysis
A 3D model is extracted from the imagery. Footprint, height and setback are compared with the permitted envelope, permit by permit.
Delivery
The flagged list, the diagrams and the export, with a note on which permits the pass could not see.
What the site visit still does better
Read these before you build a quarter around the list.
A flag is not a violation
It means the measured structure differs from the permit file. A site visit confirms it, and only then does a notice get drafted.
Height is photogrammetric
Height comes from a 3D model built out of imagery. It isn't a licensed ground survey. Small differences in height can sit inside the measurement, so the flag speaks to clear divergence.
A pixel is half a metre
At ≤0.5 m a pixel covers half a metre or less of ground. A house footprint reads clearly. A small shed, a deck or a fence line may not, and hairline encroachments are out of reach.
Cloud can hold a quarter back
The imagery is optical. If a site stays under cloud for the whole quarter, it keeps its last reading and the delivery note says so. The pass needs a usable cloud-free look inside the quarter.
Buildings under construction
A structure still going up can show partial divergence. Scoping accounts for permit status, but an open permit's flag reads as a snapshot.
Quarterly is the target
This is a scheduled audit. It isn't on demand, and it won't tell you what went up last week.
Switch if
- You run building or code enforcement for a city, county or district and work from a permit list.
- You want a measured basis for which sites to visit instead of waiting for the phone to ring.
Stick with complaint-driven visits if
- You need a violation confirmed. Only a site visit does that.
- You need a survey-grade measurement for a boundary dispute.
- You need to know about work in progress as it happens.
Before you switch
Does a flag mean a violation is confirmed?
No. It means the measured structure differs from the permit file. A site visit confirms it before any notice goes out.
How is height measured?
From a 3D model extracted from the imagery pass. It is photogrammetric, not a ground survey.
What permit data do you need from us?
The permit numbers, a site boundary for each, and the footprint, height and setback the permit allows.
What if a permit is still open?
Work in progress can show partial divergence. Tell us the permit status when you send the list so the scoping can account for it.
Can this cover a whole jurisdiction?
We scope each audit to the permit list and boundaries you send. Tell us how many permits and where, and we'll say what a first pass looks like.
Can cloud cover delay a quarter?
Yes. The audit needs a usable cloud-free look within the quarter, and the delivery note marks any permit it could not see.
How do we check it against our own records?
Hold the first quarter's flags up against permits you have already inspected. If one looks wrong, send it back and we'll go through that permit's imagery with you.
Will it load into our permit or case system?
There is no direct integration. You get CSV and GeoPackage files that open in a spreadsheet or GIS.
Who owns the outputs, and how is it priced?
Data and imagery rights go into the project agreement before the first pass. Price depends on the size of the permit list and the area, so we quote after we've seen it. There is no price list on this page.
Audit this quarter's permits.
Send the permit list and the site boundaries. We'll scope the first pass from there.
Get started