Nearmap aerial imagery and location intelligence helps Kin support customers impacted by natural disasters

SALT LAKE CITY, March 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading aerial imagery company Nearmap is helping digital insurer Kin take a proactive, technology-driven approach to support policyholders and triage claims when disasters hit. Nearmap serves as Kin's initial visual source of truth and data for understanding the risk and condition of its customers' properties, for major weather events such as Hurricane Ian.

Kin was well-prepared to handle Hurricane Ian, the Category 4 storm that devastated the state of Florida in September 2022, causing between $50 to $65 billion dollars worth of damage. Before the storm made landfall, Kin used aerial imagery from Nearmap and geospatial data from the National Hurricane Center to determine customers at high risk of having a claim. With this information, Kin triggered a series of pre-event and wellness check text messages to potentially impacted customers, from whom Kin received real-time updates.

After landfall, Kin used Nearmap ImpactResponse imagery to analyze the impact to 40,000 of its customer locations, even when ground access and inspection resources were limited. Since many customers were evacuated, this enabled Kin to initiate the claims process much faster, unlike traditional insurers that must wait longer to send human adjusters on-site to assess damage.

Adam Sturt, Senior Vice President of Underwriting and Analytics at Kin, said: "Nearmap has helped equip our claims team with the best available property information in the face of rising catastrophe losses. The imagery and data provided by Nearmap before and after the storm allowed us to be more proactive with customers, and we were able to start the claim process ~50% faster than competitors."

Tony Agresta, Executive Vice President and General Manager of North America at Nearmap, said: "Nearmap customers have told us that the combination of aerial imagery, location data, and geospatial tools enable them to rapidly assess and understand the situation on the ground, especially following natural disasters when speed and accuracy are critical. Nearmap ImpactResponse equips companies like Kin with another powerful first line of response, helping them to adequately prepare and plan to meet challenges ahead."

Nearmap surveys more than 100 million parcels in the United States up to three times per year, making it easy for insurers to unlock location insights needed to make better-informed decisions across the entire policy lifecycle.

Nearmap recently announced significant updates to their insurance-focused solutions at their annual customer event, NAVIG8. These key updates include:

Automated, AI-derived assessments: The combination of imagery and intelligence integrated into a variety of models and workflows allows for a myriad of key benefits including accelerated automation, improved data quality and overall deeper insights to detect change and reduce property risk. A full list of the Nearmap AI packs and layers currently offered is available here.
Nearmap ImpactResponse AI: As part of the Nearmap ImpactResponse® program, Nearmap commits to capture aerial imagery following major natural disasters that have a significant impact on property, infrastructure, and communities. Now Nearmap will apply AI on this data to provide rapid, automated insights enabling first responders, insurers, government departments, and other organizations to assess damage, direct critical aid, and expedite the processing of insurance claims to people and areas in need.
Nearmap Roof Condition: Nearmap Roof Condition enables underwriters to transform their workflows and improve their underwriting decisions by utilizing frequently updated aerial imagery, AI derived data layers, and data analytics insights to more accurately determine eligibility and risk. Nearmap Roof Condition is updated with every standard survey capture, to ensure that the assessment provides the most up-to-date information. Nearmap Roof Condition includes an overall roof condition score, vertical and oblique imagery of the property, and a complete set of data detailing roof features and conditions; including roof materials, roof shapes, and conditions like rusting, staining, ponding, repairs, and missing tiles. With the ability to integrate this information into existing workflows via a CSV or PDF file, carriers can feel confident that their policyholders are appropriately covered.

About Nearmap | nearmap.com

Nearmap provides easy, instant access to high resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, AI data sets, and geospatial tools. Using its own patented camera systems and processing software, Nearmap captures wide-scale urban areas in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand several times each year, making current content instantly available in the cloud via web app or API integration. Every day, Nearmap helps thousands of users conduct virtual site visits for deep, data-driven insights—enabling informed decisions, streamlined operations and better financial performance. Founded in Australia in 2007, Nearmap is one of the largest aerial survey companies in the world.

About Kin

Kin is the only pure-play, direct-to-consumer digital insurer focused on the growing homeowners insurance market. Kin makes homeowners insurance more convenient and affordable by eliminating the need for external agents. Kin's technology platform delivers a seamless user experience, customized options for coverage, and fast, high-quality claims service. Behind the scenes, Kin utilizes thousands of data points about each property to provide accurate pricing and produce better underwriting results. Kin is a fully licensed carrier that offers coverage through its reciprocal exchanges which are owned by its customers. To learn more, visit www.kin.com.

Nearmap PR Contact

Taylor Cenicola
[email protected]

Kin PR Contact

Kim Markus[email protected]