~ criminal records site surveys - part three ~

There are free sites and there are many fee sites to research names in criminal records indexes. When you need to use a fee site you want one that is most specific to your needs but is comprehensive. Keep in mind that the databases are not a substitute for court research but may uncover unexpected locations of filings or offer initial background on the nature of the charges.

My findings on some of the services that offer multi-jurisdictional searches:

• A higher cost does not equal a better repository. Westlaw is a subscription service with a use fee but some vendors like Merlindata, Intelius or Rapsheets charge based on an individual search, and may be a better value, as well as having a more comprehensive product.
• Vendors buy from each other and one may sell the same offering at a lower price than the competitor from whom they buy. Ask and compare. You'll often be able to tell the originator of the data by looking at the state jurisdiction detail.
• There are many sources within a state that provide criminal index information to an aggregator: State Corrections divisions, which report convictions; Individual County Courts, which list felonies and/or misdemeanor charges, or sometimes, just convictions; Statewide County Court centralized information systems; State Justice Departments' records of sex offender convictions, sometimes listing juveniles.
• Inclusive dates for county data varies between the services that offer data for the same counties.
• Most data providers have the Department of Corrections and sex offenders information but the cost can vary. For example, a nationwide sex offender search on IRB is $1 but has the hidden cost of a monthly service fee in the usage month. Whereas the $5 search on Merlindata does not incur any additional cost.

Here are examples of how variable the data is from vendor to vendor within one state.

• Ohio: Rapsheets provides data from 19 counties; Lexis Nexis provides data from 1 county; and National Background Data (the source for Merlindata national criminal) from the Department of Corrections only. IRB covers 2 counties.
• Texas: Rapsheets provides data from 12 counties; Westlaw and National Background Data from 8 counties; IRB covers 18 counties.
• California: Rapsheets provides data from 4 counties; Westlaw and Merlindata from 18 counties.

Finding good deals depend on how you buy the data. Searchsystems.net offers a discount on the Rapsheets searches for DirectPass customers (a $50 annual fee). A search across the multijurisdictional databases is $19, which is cheaper than a search at the Rapsheets site. Merlindata is a good value search in the states in which the data is strong. Their multijurisdictional criminal search is $25 but there's no subscription fee. The $1 search is a great deal on IRB, if you use the service enough to cover the additional cost of the monthly fee. And, with all elements being equal, the best service is the one that covers what you need!

[Technorati tags: public records criminal index

~ state public records access could be trumped by homeland security ~

If local or federal government employees clam up when you try to interview them or secure public records it may be because they've signed a non disclosure agreement with the Department of Homeland Security that overrides any state public records act. The
Department of Homeland Security Non-Disclosure Agreement is inspecific in its characterization of material, the disclosure of which could subject the signatory to criminal penalties.

"As used in this Agreement, sensitive but unclassified information is an over-arching term that covers any information, not otherwise indicated above, which the loss of, misuse of, or unauthorized access to or modification of could adversely affect the national interest or the conduct of Federal programs, or the privacy to which individuals are entitled under Section 552a of Title 5..."

This was the topic of the moment by former Washington Post investigative reporter Scott Armstrong when he spoke at the California First Amendment Coalition annual gathering.

Armstrong railed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new nondisclosure agreement, which is so ambiguously written, it can be construed to cover, well, just about anything.

The agreement restricts use of what the government calls "sensitive but unclassified information" by all officials, employees, contractors, subcontractors or people asked by the department to sign it.

That means that officials receiving homeland security grants or disaster preparedness information could be asked to sign the agreement requiring them not speak about what they know.

Police chiefs. Fire chiefs. City managers. Disaster planners. Officials of levee districts. They could all be prohibited from discussing even the most innocuous information, such as how a city will respond to a flood or major fire.

[Read the article [Bypass reg.: ajacks@melee.com/ajacks5]

[Technorati tags: public records homeland security]

~ securities and exchange commission ordered to reconsider FOIA requests ~

A recent federal ruling suggests that some Securities and Exchange Commission files of companies it's investigating are public records. Minnesota U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson delivered a partial victory to SECInsight, which brought suit against the SEC on behalf of its investor clients.

In a decision handed down in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in the wake of corporate scandals, a Federal judge this week concluded that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) failed to follow proper procedure in responding to litigation brought by SEC Insight, Inc., an independent and private investment research firm. SEC Insight brought the action in 2004 in response to the SEC's increased denial of records under the FOIA. The Court also remanded 10 requests to the SEC for immediate processing and ordered the agency to provide better basis for records it continues to deny.

[Technorati tags: public records securities and exchange commission]

~ confirming bloodlines ~

Genetic markers can be used to trace a family lineage, developing a potentially different, or more expansive, family history than that reported by individuals. The Sorenson Foundation is collecting genetic profiles to aid genealogical research. Here's there program description:

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) is a non-profit organization committed to developing the world's foremost database of correlated genetic and genealogical information, and making this information freely available to the public.

View the Paternal Line Surnames that have been cataloged in this ongoing genealogy project.

[Technorati tags: genealogy search tools

~ california journalists may not go to school ~

California law supports the requirement that all visitors to public schools, except the media, must immediately register with the school office.

"No outsider shall enter or remain on school grounds during school hours without having registered with the principal or designee, except to proceed expeditiously to the office of the principal or designee for the purpose of registering. If signs posted in accordance with Section 627.6 restrict the entrance or route that outsiders may use to reach the office of the principal or designee, an outsider shall comply with such signs." (Pen. Code, ·· 627- 627.11.)

The Manteca California school district is exploring the possibility of requiring journalists to register, which appears to be in conflict with state law, based on a vague statement in an Attorney General opinion: "Reasonable restrictions may be placed upon members of the news media..."


[Technorati tags: california journalists

~ alabama considers redacting crime reports ~

Crime records in Alabama may become available on the Internet within the next two years, under a proposal being considered by the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center Commission. Unfortunately, the Commission is also considering redacting the names of crime victims from the public portion of the incident reports.

[Technorati tags:police records]

~ online database of damaged vehicles ~

The auto marketplace could see a flood of used but damaged cars and boats from, well, THE FLOOD resulting from the Katrina hurricane. Search this online database by Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or Hull Identification Number (HIN) for some vehicles originating from the affected region.

[Technorati tags: database]

~ the 60 second answer ~

You may be familiar with the Google fee service that connects you to a live person to answer any type of question you want researched. Google Answers index of questions asked and answers given can be retrieved with a simple search. Find the document retention schedule for individual tax returns, for example.


[Technorati tags: internet research]

~ where have all the files gone? ~

A common annoyance is the challenge of finding files and emails on your computer. The Microsoft search mechanism that comes with Windows is verrry slow. You're way behind the curve if you haven't already started using a free add-on desktop search tool. Simply, find files by name or words within the document (including your emails) within seconds. I've been using Copernic but the Yahoo Desktop was recently recommended at the Internet Librarian Conference. Let your computer organize your files so you don't have to!


[Technorati tags: desktop search

~ your ipod at work ~

As electronic discovery becomes more far reaching even personal electronic items may be subject to scrutiny.

Companies are becoming worried about staff downloading sensitive information from office computers. And according to Kroll Ontrack, the electronic discovery arm of the giant private detective group, US workers have had their iPods and mobiles searched as part of investigations into possible security breaches, and as part of the "discovery" process in legal actions.

Text messaging is still shielded because, according to the private investigation agency, Kroll, there's a technological stumbling block to retrieving deleted messages.


[Technorati tags: electronic discovery

~ find an insurance policy ~

Are you searching for a missing life insurance policy on a decedent? The MIB Group, a membership organization of life insurance companies, has a Life Insurance Policy Locator service. Send along a search request form with $75.

Reach the website of all the state Department of Insurance offices from this map.


[Technorati tags: life insurance]

~ online merchants lure private investigators ~

There are services on the Internet that target private investigators but may reinforce negative impressions of the nature of the work we perform, thereby compromising our legitimate access to personal information. One site, Freelance Security, encourages investigators to grovel by bidding on requests from the public for jobs from the standard domestic surveillances to the more suspect like, "identify the holder of a telephone number not listed in public phone book." Then the private investigator quotes a fee for providing the service, which is published in an open forum. How denigrating is this?

The company taking fees from investigators for the "opportunity" is somewhere in cyberspace, barely identifiable. Here's their domain listing:

Registrant:Enhance Associates Limited
Room 813, 8/F Hollywood Plaza
610 Nathan Road
Kowloon, Kowloon -Hong Kong
Registered through: Domains AsiaDomain Name: FREELANCESECURITY.COM
Created on: 15-May-03
Expires on: 15-May-10
Last Updated on: 25-May-05
Administrative Contact:Admin, Admin admin@enhanceassociates.com
Enhance Associates Limited
Room 813, 8/F Hollywood Plaza610 Nathan Road
Kowloon, Kowloon -Hong Kong55555555
Technical Contact:Admin, Admin admin@enhanceassociates.com
Enhance Associates LimitedRoom 813,
8/F Hollywood Plaza610 Nathan Road
Kowloon, Kowloon -Hong Kong55555555

~ hawaii online court site - closes for upgrade ~

The Hawaii Judiciary website, which provides a database of circuit, family and certain district court civil case records will not be operational until November 4, due to a system upgrade. [The website actually gives different dates: Unavailable Sunday 10/23/05 8AM to 9AM (Hawaii Standard Time) and for the period from 10/28/05 4PM to 10/31/05 6:30AM (HST)]

When the new computer system is operational on Nov. 7, the public will be able to access case information as far back as 1994 via the Web site, www.courts.state.hi.us. Certified abstracts will contain information about moving violations dating back to 1994, which is a change from the current practice of providing only three years of data.

When fully phased in over the next several years, the new system will unify all the state's appellate, circuit, family and district courts through a single database. Read all about it

[Technorati tags: public records courts]

~ google maps sex offenders ~

The Map Sex Offenders site uses the magic of Google maps to chart the location of registered sex offenders by city, street or zip code. After you select a pinpoint, the map displays a callout with the person's name and a thumbnail photo. Click on the hyperlink for their name and link to the pretrieved information page on the registrant at the corresponding state government site. Currently the website links to 38 states, 3 more than the government operated National Sex Offender Public Registry.



[Technorati tags: sex offender]

~ people finder databases update ~

The Lexis Nexis owned Accurint®, a people locate-and-research database, will have a new pricing structure for the collections industry starting November 1, 2005. I guess the rock bottom fees everyone is charging for a people finder search have driven them to institute a monthly fee of $ 75, reflecting the same type of attitude toward the small or solo practitioner we've seen from Choicepoint. The monthly minimum covers unlimited searching on 15 of their locate and background searches. Reports and any other searches willincure a separate fee. Also, Accurint and the Lexis Nexis public records searches will be integrated to "fill in the gaps" in data, and both products will run on the Accurint platform, all according to the last man standing at customer service. There's no suggestion from IRB that their fee schedule will change.

[Technorati tags: public records]

~ a database you can smell ~

The Environmental Working Group has posted an online database of ingredients in various cosmetics and body care products, and whether each of the components have been assessed for safety.

Singer said the environmental group used nearly 40 databases operated by the government, industry, research institutions and others to check the toxicity of the ingredients.

And I knew you would want the opposing side...

Irene Malbin, a spokeswoman for the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, said the database was “filled with erroneous information and false conclusions intended to mislead consumers. Cosmetics continue to be one of the safest categories of products used by Americans each day.” Read the gripping tale [reg. bypass: lala@mailinator.com/lalala]

~ keep your car on a short leash ~

The Michigan Secretary of State has an online database of abandoned vehicles, the Auto Lost and Found. A car may be considered lost if it resides on the open road for 24 hours. Then it may be declared found by a legal clean up crew! So, once again, keep your automobile on a short leash.

The law also transfers the responsibility of notifying vehicle owners from police agencies to the Department of State. The 30-day waiting period for impounded vehicles is eliminated, allowing law enforcement to deem them as abandoned within 24 hours.

[Technorati tag: online search]

~ exploring asset protection ~

Private investigators and attorneys exploring issues in developing asset information will want to review the extensive articles at the Asset Protection Law Center, the website of a California attorney.

How does a potential plaintiff find out whether you have enough money to make you an attractive lawsuit target? Thanks to the Internet, a lawyer can find out everything he needs to know. Recent advances in computers and Internet technology allow unprecedented access to your most sensitive personal and financial information.

The site covers the use of pretexts, methods employed by information brokers and non financial sources for financial information.

[Technorati tags: information sources private investigator information broker attorneys

~ get public records from the government - public records under attack ~

Journalists need to make use of the public records statutes, but so do private investigators and other information researchers, in order to keep this right alive.

News editors need to educate reporters and urge them to file more freedom of information requests, he told the New England Associated Press News Executives Association. They also need to report on their findings in ways that matter to real people, such as writing about a citizen's struggle to find out through government records about toxic chemicals in the dump near her home, he said.

Investigators should educate their attorney clients on the importance of using the federal Freedom of Information Act and your state's public records act. One problem is that lawyers are not prepared to litigate this issue when access is denied, probably because they're focused on the primary case, and they don't know about public access law. This is where you can draw on the experience of the freedom of information organizations that litigate on open government issues. Find one in your state and become a member. Public records advocates by state

Pat Stith, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., said that once state and local government officials know a news organization will go to court every time, it rarely has to. Reporters should be armed with a handbook on their state's public access laws and ask every government official who refuses a records request to show them where the law allows the record to be kept secret, he said.

Here are some news stories that have appeared in the past week on this topic:

Same old, sad story on public records denied
Office finds public often improperly denied access to records, meetings
Sheriff probes tussle over public records
Public access to records a mixed bag in South Dakota

[Technorati tags: public records
information sources
information access]

~ camera phones shop for products ~

Okay, this is a little off the topic of public records, but a quirky application of technology gets the creative mind ticking. TRACNotes reports that some cell phones, with specific service providers, can make use of the camera to scan a product barcode and get prices on similar products.

ScanZOOM's PriceGrabber technology allows users to take a picture of an item's barcode. The UPC information is then transmitted via the phone's Internet capability to ScanZOOM which compares the price on the item scanned with the cost of the item at other nearby stores and at Internet retailers (such as Amazon.com for books). Read more

[Technorati tags: information sources information access]

~ oakland california arrest logs online ~

A small corner of the world in North Oakland (PSA-2) is expanding the spirit of public records and posting a downloadable file of arrests for police beats 8 through 13. The Excel file is organized by date, but includes the name and PFN of the arrestee, the charge, and the site of the arrest.

[Technorati tags: public records police records]

~ the internet version of public records ~

A problem with the evolving policies of state courts redefining public access to court case files is highlighted in this opinion piece by a Pennsylvania media lawyer. There is no logical basis for a distinction between public records available electronically and the same records obtainable across the counter at the court clerk's office. But this distinction is the very recommendation of Florida court administrators and others who have considered this question. Redaction of some personal identifiers may be warranted, but limiting the range of documents at a government Internet site may even be unwise. As records are more commonly stored only in electronic form, and the paper trail has a denouement, the right to access hard copy documents will be moot.

[Technorati tags: public records electronic records]

~ government secrecy begets a little bit more ~

Continuing my rant on the law of unintended consequences, I bring to your attention this article on a state government's attempt to withhold records that were formerly available, through an expansive interpretation of a new state law.

The 2005 General Assembly enacted a new exception to the Open Records Law to cover items that might expose a “vulnerability in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, or responding to a terrorist act...”

The provision was first used by Gov. Ernie Fletcher and the Kentucky State Police shortly after it was passed to deny access to records of the cost of providing security to Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney who flew in and out of Louisville on March 28 for a fundraising appearance for an Indiana congressman. Other than getting on and
off his airplane, he did not set foot in Kentucky.

“That was in violation of the spirit and intent of what we did,” said Weaver, D-Elizabethtown.

Weaver sponsored the legislation and has been surprised at the breadth of records being kept secret with the provisions. “It isn’t intended to be abused by someone,” Weaver said in a telephone interview Monday.

You may recall a long ago posting on the Kern County California District Attorney who invoked his own unique interpretation of the state law redacting criminal police reports. Similarly, the sponsor of this legislation declared that he had no expectation that the law would be applied in such a sweeping manner. But when you craft a law founded on secrecy, more secrecy is what you get. And, apparently, a little begets a lot more.

[Technorati tag: secrecy government-records]

~ online research through audio files ~

A new form of audio files called podcasts, so named because they can be downloaded from the Internet to a portable digital listening device (such as an iPod), are searchable through many search engines. Yahoo has just rolled out their podcast search. A keyword search of "legal" returned Involuntary Manslaughter: A Double Standard?, a broadcast with the editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The Podcast Search Service catalogs a more extensive collection of websites with podcasts, searching terms within the site title or description. Pod Spider includes international audio files. Individual podcasts are beginning to be tagged, which will enable the searcher to uncover specific relevant audio files.

[Technorati tag: legal technology private investigations]

~ specialty death index ~

If you're on the trail of a Seventh Day Adventist you might want to add this obituary index to your list of resources.

~ law enforcement resists compliance with public records law ~

As I've noted before and again, comparisons of agency compliance with public records requests demonstrate that law enforcement are the most resistant to public records act requests. The first part of a 4-part study by a Kentucky newspaper of that state's government agency responses to a public records act request underscores this finding.

Fewer than a third of jailers complied with requests for records.

In Montgomery County, Jailer Dewayne Myers and two employees backed auditor Dariush Shafa up and demanded his identification.

“The whole situation was very intimidating," Shafa, 20, a University of Kentucky student, said in an interview.

Several jailers said the uncommon request for the jail log — and the fact the auditors would not produce identification or say why they wanted to see it — raised concerns about the safety of inmates, authorities and the public.

“We don’t want to take no chance with somebody we don’t know,” Myers said.

Such distrust of the public was a factor in the long debate that led up to the creation of the Open Records Act and its companion, the Kentucky Open Meetings Act.

I recently conducted an investigation in which the successful arm-twisting of a police department to release incident reports lead to a favorable conclusion of an employment related sex harassment case. SDT's or personal authorizations are not required under California law to secure these records (limited exceptions apply) but you must be able to cite the law and know how to talk to the City Attorney.

~ data breach bill moves to the senate judiciary committee ~

The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to hear and possibly revise a bill to add criminal penalties to releases of personal identifying information. Senate Bill 1789, Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005 requires notification to consumers of data breaches if there's a reasonable expectation that the personal identifiers could be used in an identity theft. This bill is scheduled for a vote tomorrow, Thursday, October 6. Read an article

The bill places an enormous burden on data brokers and may require companies selling data to third parties to purge records disputed as inaccurate.

(8) TREATMENT OF INACCURATE OR UNVERIFIABLE INFORMATION.--
(A) IN GENERAL.--If, after any review of public record information under paragraph (1) or any investigation of any information disputed by an individual under paragraphs (2) through (4), an item of information is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or cannot be verified, a data broker shall promptly delete that item of information from the individual's personal electronic record or modify that item of information, as appropriate, based on the results of the investigation.

Could this lead to the removal of address and associates information that is not completely correct but may provide useful leads in an investigation? Read the portion of the bill pertaining to data brokers

~ criminal cases and event data recorders ~

Your car may be spying on you, recording evidence that could be used to prosecute a criminal charge. That's the "black box" data recorder, installed in newer vehicles. Apparently some criminal convictions are founded on the contents captured here.

Auto manufacturers looking for ways to make their vehicles safer have engineered EDRs to store the five seconds of data that precede an accident (and sometimes a near miss). More than 40 million vehicles, including most built in the last five years, are equipped with similar EDR technology. Read the article

~ a journalist's view of the world investigators conference ~

A journalist's chatty speed review of the largest private investigator conference is available at the blog of Emmanuelle Richards. The World Investigators Conference entertained 1500 investigators in the bowels of a smoke-free Las Vegas conference center. If you were there, you met a lot of people, many from far reaches of the globe, and perhaps gathered some new ideas. I received lots of support for PI News Link, which I talked up endlessly, and garnered a mention from the stage by Cynthia Hetherington, who took us on an internet research tour.

~ paparazzi or surveillance ? ~

Could the California law just signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger which aims to provide civil relief to celebrities injured by paparazzi negatively impact surveillance investigators? The California Newspaper Publishers Association describes and quotes the bill:

The bill would create a new cause of action for an “assault committed with the intent to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff.” Assault is both a crime and a tort under current law, and is defined as a willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon a person, coupled with the apparent present ability to do so. Liability does not require a person to actually smack another. The existing anti-paparazzi law creates civil liability for the trespass on private property for the purpose of obtaining an image or recording of a person engaged in a personal or familial activity. The law also creates liability for “constructive trespass,” such as the use of a long lens from a public vantage point or other hi-tech method to invade the private property and personal space of the plaintiff. Photographers and their employers found in violation of the law are subject to extraordinary damages, including treble damages and disgorgement of profits.

~ connecticut court removes juvenile police reports from the public record ~

Connecticut legislators and the Governor have recently approved a change to the public records law that will ban release of police reports involving juveniles. The new law is codified as Public Act 05-232. Read the article (free reg., go to bugmenot.com)

~ municipalities are offering free wifi ~

Increasingly cities are providing free wireless internet connections, and now San Francisco is reviewing bids from companies to install free wifi throughout the City. Philadelphia has just announced that a major ISP is building a citywide wifi network for free. Run your business from the convenience of the local cafe or from the driver's seat of your car, without having to pay for an expensive service through a handheld device. Read the San Francisco article

~ free directory assistance and long distance calling ~

TRACNotes, a publication of the consumer watchdog Telecommunications Research and Action Center, gives a favorable review to a new company that provides free directory assistance and long distance calling when connecting through their directory assistance. Businesses can also pay a fee to have the consumer connected to them when the caller asks for a specific type of business.

A new service called 1-800-FREE411 which launched last week could make paying for directory assistance a thing of the past. What's more, by letting the service connect you (again, free of charge), consumers can make long distance calls for free, according to the company. Sound too good to be true? It may not be, if you are willing to sit through a 10 second ad. The service is funded not by consumers paying to access it, as with conventional directory assistance, but by companies that pay to have callers hear their ads while they wait for listings. Read the full review

~ hayward california to make some police reports available online ~

The Hayward Police Department (California) is establishing a website for residents to file and obtain low priority reports in which a suspect is not known. The site is run by a private company which must first match its software program to the police department's before it is functional. Read the article

~ criminal records site surveys - part two ~

Criminal records in state repositories are collated based on reports from the individual counties within that state. Many counties do not collect or report complete records, as I previously noted here and here. The BRB Public Record Update, a free registration newsletter, gathered the following statistics from their own products and from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice StatisticÂ’s Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2001 report. A 2005 update "Examines the problem of missing dispositions in State criminal history records and the availability of State records to support the National Instant Criminal Background Check System."

1) Only 32 states require prosecutors to report to state repositories a decision to decline prosecution of a case.
2) Only 35 states and DC require law enforcement officials to notify the state repository when an arrested person is released without formal charging, but after fingerprints were submitted.
3) Only 42 states use computer edit and verification programs as part of data quality procedures.
4) Only 21 states report they receive final felony trial court dispositions for 70% or more arrests within the last 5 years.
5) Only 10 states report they receive 100% of final trial court dispositions.
6) The overall average is 13.7 days between the date of the final court disposition and the receipt of fingerprints by the state criminal record agency. The range is 1 to 169 days (MS is 169).
7) The overall average is 14.4 days between the receipt of fingerprints and entry into the state database. The range is 1 day to 180 days (OK is 180).

~ santa barbara california civil court index online ~

The Santa Barbara County Civil index is searchable by case names or number and can be limited by date range. Dockets are not available. The government operated site describes the index characteristics:

The Online Public Index includes cases from 1975 for General Civil/Family/Probate, and from 1997 for Limited Civil cases. There is a very limited number of cases filed as far back as the 1920s included in the Public Index. If you need to find a case with a file date prior to 1975 or 1997 as previously mentioned, please request a search of paper indices.
NOTE: "Due to the unification of Superior and Municipal Court records, there may be more than one case number for an individual or company, we advise that you look at all cases for that individual."

~ where in the google earth is... ~

Preview a geographical site in 3-D with Google Earth to determine physical layout and whether the building is a single family residence, an apartment or a business. Tilt and rotate the image to view buildings from various angles, and zoom in as close as 100 feet for fairly decent clarity.