Harrison Resources/WEB-BASED COLLECTION OF MAPS, SATELLITE IMAGES
by ROBERT BUAN
Colordoan March 17, 2002
Creaig Harrison is big on maps. In the 1980s, Harrison developed a scale map of the Front Range that still fills a conference room of his Fort Collins office.
In the 1990s, the local commercial land and water broker unveiled a digital mapping system that answers questions about physical and statistical features of Colorado.
This year, Harrison's gone national.
LandNetUSA.com is a Web-based service that lets landowners and prospective buyers pin down a satellite image of property sites anywhere in the country.
"I think it's the largest collection of map data ever put on the Web," said Harrison. In total, LandNetUSA includes about 250,000 maps, satellite images and aerial photographs, covering nearly a billion acres of land in the contiguous 48 states. The data consumes 25,000 gigabytes of storage.
LandNetUSA is a subscription service that Harrison markets on the Web through a network of affiliate companies. For instance, anybody who logs on the the Farm Credit Service of America home page will see a link to LandNetUSA.
"We have 22 (affiliate) sites presently, with a lot more being negotiated," Harrison said.
Harrison's strategy is to strike deals with existing leaders in certain market niches. Farm Credit Service, for example,, is a kingpin in agricultural real estate lending.
Locally, Fort Collins-based USLots.com - an online real estate listing service for undeveloped land - uses Harrison's database.
"I was asked recently, 'Why map one billion acres?' The way I answered it was, 'It's an awfully big market.' My guess is there's one and half trillion (dollars)" in land value.
"There's a need that's unfulfilled for online research on land," he said.
Harrison formulated the idea for LandNetUSA as a marketing tool for the real estate business. Now he sees demand in the agricultural, energy, engineering and finance markets.
A recent article in Professional Surveyor magazine touted LandNetUSA as a means for surveyors to save time in starting survey procedures.
Traditionally, surveyors have to eyeball paper maps to estimate boundaries before starting the surveying process. The online system boils down the initial research steps to minutes.
"You could drive the perimeter of the area (you want to survey) with a GPS device and record the points," Harrison said. "Type those in on LandNet and it will draw them for you in front of your eyes."
John Von Neida, survey manager for TST Consulting Engineers in Fort Collins, said the Web tool saves his firm half a day of research at the beginning of a contract.
"It's the first thing I think about when I get a new job," Von Neida said. "i go on the site, check out the photos adn the USGS plots. I plot a boundary on there and I can see where it (the survey location) is."
Another LandNet tool allows users to type in a legal description and quickly see where it (the survey location) is."
Another LandNet tool allows users to type in a legal description and quickly see a map on the computer screen.
The maps on LandNetUSA are "seamless," allowing users to "pan from coast to coast," said Kevin Corbley, president of Corbley Communications, a Littleton public relations firm specializing in the geographic information systems industry.
The seamless feature means surveyors can't miss information that might be lost when two or more maps are set down together in a puzzle format, Corbley said.
Harrison contracted two Fort Collins technology firms -- I-Cubed and Tec Bugs - to conduct the groundwork for the Web service.I-Cubed acquired the maps and data sets that comprise the content of LandNetUSA. Tec Bugs built the LandVierwer software that enables customers to search through the Web site.
Harrison, owner of Harrison Resources, has brokered $330 million in land and water deals in Colorado over the past 20 years. Success from recent sales has allowed him to work nearly full-time on LandNetUSA during the past year, he said.
He expects his time and money to pay off quickly, predicting LandNetUSA will generate "seven-figure" revenue in short order.
"I thnik it could be eight figures in five years," he said.
With LandNetUSA operational, Harrison - who often tests new ground in business - will toggle to another Internet idea.
He owns a set of 575 Internet domain names with the common "realestatelistings" suffix, such as www.coloradorealestatelistings.com and utahrealestatelistings.com.
The lists includes all 50 states, 300 cities and all the Canadian provinces.
Harrison has started marketing the domain set to interested buyers.
"Now I'm talking to a few firms that have national markets that could take advantage of using this group of names," he said.
"I'm a believer that if you're in business for any reason other than to sell the business, you shouldn't be in business," he said.
"At some point you exit to the next idea."
###
Read More Press Releases
|
