GIS for Real Estate and Cadastre: Tools and Formats
Real estate is inseparable from geography. Location, transportation accessibility, surrounding infrastructure — all of these are spatial data. GIS tools and OpenStreetMap maps give developers, appraisers, and realtors objective analytics impossible to obtain from Excel spreadsheets.
GIS Tasks in Real Estate
Territory Analysis for Development
Before purchasing a plot, a developer evaluates dozens of factors:
- Transportation accessibility — distance to metro, bus stops, highways.
- Infrastructure — schools, kindergartens, clinics, stores within 500m-1km.
- Competitive environment — existing residential complexes, commercial properties.
- Restrictions — protection zones, waterfront buffers, red lines.
- Terrain — slopes, flood-prone areas.
All of this can be visualized and calculated through GIS. OpenStreetMap contains data about roads, buildings, POIs, and land use worldwide.
Property Valuation
The comparative sales method requires analyzing comparable properties in the vicinity. GIS enables:
- Building buffer zones around the property (500m, 1km, 3km).
- Counting the number and types of POIs in each zone.
- Calculating Walk Score, Green Score, Transit Score — integrated territory quality indices.
- Overlaying cadastral data on infrastructure maps.
On osm2cdr.ru, a geo-analytics API with 10 scoring engines is available: Walk Score, Green Score, Transit Score, Safety Score, Education Score, Health Score, Commerce Score, Culture Score, Connectivity Score, and Livability Index.
Visualization for Clients
A map is the most intuitive way to showcase location advantages. Export a neighborhood map to PDF for presentations or SVG for the residential complex website.
Cadastral Data
Rosreestr (Russia)
The Public Cadastral Map of Rosreestr (pkk.rosreestr.ru) contains land plot boundaries, cadastral numbers, categories, and permitted use. osm2cdr.ru integrates PKK data through the cadastral overlay layer.
Typical cadastral tasks: - Determining plot boundaries and overlaying with infrastructure maps. - Checking land category (residential, industrial, agricultural). - Analyzing surrounding development — building height, density. - Preparing schemes for urban planning plans (GPZU).
Export for AutoCAD
Designers work in AutoCAD. For them, it's critical to get a map in DWG or DXF format with the correct coordinate system (MSK):
- Select the area on osm2cdr.ru.
- Choose DWG or DXF format.
- Select the MSK coordinate system (e.g., MSK-77 for Moscow).
- Receive a file with layer separation: roads, buildings, greenery, water bodies.
DWG layers correspond to OSM object types: highways -> "Roads" layer, buildings -> "Buildings" layer, etc.
Scoring Indices for Analytics
osm2cdr.ru calculates 10 territory quality indices:
| Index | What It Evaluates | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Walk Score | Walkability (shops, cafes, services) | 0-100 |
| Green Score | Greenery (parks, gardens, forests) | 0-100 |
| Transit Score | Public transport (metro, buses, trams) | 0-100 |
| Safety Score | Safety (lighting, cameras, police) | 0-100 |
| Education Score | Education (schools, universities, libraries) | 0-100 |
| Health Score | Healthcare (hospitals, pharmacies, clinics) | 0-100 |
| Commerce Score | Commerce (shops, malls, markets) | 0-100 |
| Culture Score | Culture (museums, theaters, cinemas) | 0-100 |
| Connectivity Score | Connectivity (road network, internet) | 0-100 |
| Livability Index | Composite index (9 components) | 0-100 |
This data is available via API and displayed on city pages in the /map/ section.
Formats for Real Estate Work
| Task | Format | For Whom |
|---|---|---|
| AutoCAD project | DWG, DXF | Designers |
| QGIS analysis | Shapefile, GeoPackage | GIS analysts |
| Website map | GeoJSON, SVG | Web developers |
| Client presentation | Sales managers | |
| Google Earth exchange | KML | Investors |
Export maps and data for real estate at osm2cdr.ru — 127 formats, 165 coordinate systems, 10 scoring engines.