Is there a good reference guide for what the land use types are in Datatree? Some of them are self explanatory but I don’t totally understand all of them. I am really just trying to find vacant land with no particular use case, and not on any native American reservations of the sort. What fields should I be using? Or what docs can I cross reference to get a better idea of how to narrow my searches?
@land_master are there a few specific ones you’re wondering about? Let us know which ones you’re referring to and maybe the group can offer some explanations.
The tricky thing is, not all counties classify their vacant land types as specific as DataTree allows… so even if you do understand what they all mean and select the ones you want accordingly, it doesn’t mean the county will be on the same page or have their parcels organized well enough for you to take advantage of all those filters.
These are the types I usually go after:
Some of the exceptions might be the multi-family lots, multi-family acreage, and/or agricultural land, depending on what market I’m in and/or if that kicks the properties into a commercial category.
Not to mention, these aren’t the only ways to filter out the vacant lots. You could also select Single Family Residential and then specify that you want only the properties with zero sq ft of livable space, for example.
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On DataTree, does the land use “vacant lmtd/No Dev Potential” mean that the property is not buildable? I am looking at a couple of counties where removing this option deletes 90% of the properties.
@sempervirens you might have more luck using the “County Land Use” field because these are the specific codes being used in whichever county you select at the top.
The problem with the other “Land Use” option is that this is DataTree’s best guess and lumping different zoning codes together based on how they think the county is classifying property types.
They’re usually right, but just in case they’re not… using the county’s zoning codes should (in theory) be much more accurate.
The really nice thing about this filtering option is that the county land uses will auto-fill once you start typing them in… so you don’t even need to know what they are ahead of time.
Just start typing out words that you think will work and if there’s an option for that, it will pop up!
@retipsterseth Thank Seth. Unfortunately for this County, there are no vacant land options for the county codes. I think I will stick with the vacant land use types, and then put 0 for living area sq. ft. Does that sound like it would work?
@sempervirens got it. In that case, I guess you’ll have to stick with the vacant and use types you’re already working with.
Hopefully, that lack of information doesn’t mean there are other critical holes in that county’s data (and keep in mind, there are many other ways you can whittle down your list for the type of land and property owners you’re going after), but in general, it sounds like you’re on the right track.