Method and apparatus for monitoring and responding to land use activities

• US 20050055233A1
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Terradex, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Terradex, Inc.
• Inventors: Wenzlau, Robert, Biffar, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/165 Land development

Abstract

The invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring the use of land. More specifically, the invention monitors the use of land at a specified site, as well as at adjacent sites. The system continuously receives new land use data, The system identifies land use events at the specified site and filters these monitoring hits against alert criteria. The system then generates alerts to specified parties. Based on these alerts, proactive steps of intervention can be undertaken. The invention answers the question of how to manage risks relating to the use of land resulting from external activities and how to intervene proactively.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for monitoring use of land, comprising the steps of:

targeting a site to be monitored in connection with any of a property management zone, intrusion protection zone, and resource zone, wherein said site comprises a specific geographic area, and wherein boundaries of said site do not necessarily align with boundaries of a legal description of a property;

monitoring ongoing land use activities in connection with said site in view of at least one land use control which limits how said land can be used, wherein said method monitor data which are automatically generated or/and provided by third parties, wherein said data comprise any kind of data which can be related to a geographic location of said site and which vary between different locations; and

providing an alert if there is an event within a zone associated with said site that matches alert criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a site comprises any of:

an area along an infrastructure;

a time varying geographic area; and

a route.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

acting for purposes of validation, alert follow-up, and reporting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said site comprises a plurality of zones.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a user can specify any of:

what data sources need to be monitored against such zone;

alert criteria for each zone and/or data; and

what action should be taken to follow up on an alert.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said land use activity data comprise any of:

real estate data which comprises any of sales, zoning, current use, tenant, and rent rates;

water well related data;

building permit data or application data;

EPA data;

requests for excavation, as well as excavation permits;

land use related data;

chemical spill data;

school, education data;

political representation data;

traffic data;

socio-demographic data which comprises any of income, age, race, and education;

commercial data which comprises any of type of business, sales, and industry;

crime rates;

sex offender data;

any of noise, air, and climate data;

any of health data, death rates and causes; and

real time data provided by sensors, wherein said sensors comprises any device that is capable of capturing a real time physical activity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said activity data does not initially exist as data, but is generated using other data and/or other activity data sets and logic rules.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing alert response management, comprising the steps of;

checking said alert against a database;

coordinating an alert response;

closing an alert; and

documenting said alert.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said alert criteria comprise any of:

a short statement; and

an alert path describing who needs to be informed and in what order, based on which event and when.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said land use control is an institutional control that comprises any of:

soft institutional controls that are self-imposed by a responsible party, and typically are not required by any regulatory or government agency; and

hard institutional controls that are imposed by a third party who is not the owner, user, and/or polluter of the site.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

checking the geography of an event against the geography of a zone;

doing nothing if said event does not overlap one or multiple zones; and

if said event does overlap one or multiple zones, noting said overlap in a monitoring report.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

filtering the monitoring overlaps against alert criteria; and

creating an alert only if there is a match.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein filtering comprises any of geographic filtering, land activity filtering, and validation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said institutional control requires certain engineering controls to be in place.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said site comprises any of one or more temporary zones and changing zones.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said site comprises a moveable zone and wherein said site is ephemeral.

17. A computer implemented apparatus for monitoring land use, comprising:

a database comprising site description data of a site to be monitored;

a database comprising institutional control rules data (IC rules);

a database comprising land use activity data; and

a logic module for monitoring land use in connection with said site using said activity data, according to said IC rules.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said logic module assembles said activity data into a shape file which expands across a specific geographic area.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for translating said activity data into said shape file; and

means for comparing geographic areas represented by said activity data and said shape file to each other to determine and search for any area overlaps, wherein if there is an overlap, said logic module prepares and sends an alert.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said site description data comprise any of:

location of said site, wherein said location is described in any of longitude/latitude parameters, parcel number, street address, grid based mapping location, and/or altitude or elevation;

a detailed description of elements of interest;

a graphical description;

contact names and addresses;

a description of said institutional control;

pictures or other visual elements.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, said site comprising:

a plurality of zones, wherein a different monitoring and/or alert procedure can be provided for each zone.

22. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said IC rules describe restriction and alert procedures which comprise any of:

different restrictions specified for each of a plurality of zones;

elements and frequency of monitoring the land use; and

rules for alerting one or multiple parties regarding any violations or conflicts with said IC rules.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said land use activity data comprises data related to a geographic location of said site and which varies between different locations.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said land use activity data comprises any of:

real estate data which comprises any of sales, zoning, current use, tenant, and rent rates;

water well related data;

building permit data or application data;

EPA data;

requests for excavation, as well as excavation permits;

land use related data;

chemical spill data;

school, education data;

political representation data;

traffic data;

socio-demographic data which comprises any of income, age, race, and education;

commercial data which comprises any of type of business, sales, and industry;

crime rates;

sex offender data;

any of noise, air, and climate data;

any of health data, death rates and causes; and

real time data provided by sensors, wherein said sensors comprises any device that is capable of capturing a real time physical activity.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said activity data does not initially exist as data, but is generated using other data and/or other activity data sets and logic rules.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said activity data is collected using physical measuring instruments.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said logic module determines any of:

a shape area comprising a three-dimensional shape comprising any of longitude, latitude and altitude;

a shape area comprising a two-dimensional shape, where one dimension is altitude;

a virtual shape; and

a shape area comprising time as a fourth dimension.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, said logic module comprising:

means for comparing multiple shapes against each other to search for overlaps.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said shape can be dynamic, and change according to logical rules, which may include any of a change in size;

and/or a change in location.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein any of a person and object comprises a shape owning a geographic location over time.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein shapes can be merged and/or split apart.

32. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein alerts comprise any of an electronic or printed format;

wherein one or multiple parties can be alerted;

wherein logic rules may be optionally provided outlining an escalation path for the alert mechanism; and

wherein an alert can be driven or initiated based on a specified time sequence of events.

33. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

an alert logic module for executing steps to verify an alert, wherein such steps comprise any of;

checking against other data sources to check plausibility or seriousness;

requesting from one or more systems additional information needed for evaluation; and

means for including manual operator input.

34. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

an action module for receiving an alert and for creating corrective action steps based on said alert, wherein a corrective action is any activity which is not an alert or an evaluation of an alert.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein said corrective action comprises any of:

an automated letter of complaint;

a warning to a party having caused an alert to stop certain activities or introduce activities; and

a legal disclosure letter to a purchaser of a property next to said site to make sure that the new owner is aware of certain land use restrictions.

39. The method of claim 34, further comprising the step of:

alerting specified parties along specified escalation paths.

40. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

acting for purposes of validation, alert follow-up, and reporting.

36. An apparatus for monitoring land use, comprising:

a database for storing sites and their characteristics, logic rules, output data (history), and administration data;

a data input for monitoring said sites and inputting data accordingly;

a logic module for applying said logic rules to said input data;

an output interface;

user controls for outputting data and results and for distributing results electronically;

wherein said logic module applies said logic rules to detect land use patterns over time.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein said logic rules manage institutional controls with respect to use of air space above a physical property.

38. A computer implemented method for monitoring land use, comprising the steps of:

targeting zones to monitor, activities to monitor, and alert needs; and

monitoring land use activities, commitments, and regulatory action.