Monitoring and Forecasting

SAIC monitors and forecasts demographic and development trends of current and projected changes to land use and land-use policies as well as transportation planned improvements.

Land-Use Monitoring

SAIC’s land use monitoring and forecasting system identifies land areas that aren’t currently designated for development but are at risk for development based on political and socio-economic drivers. Our system uses a customized version of Google Earth, Geographic Information System (GIS), and Web-interface databases to monitor current and projected land use, which can ultimately reduce financial risk for customers. SAIC’s monitoring and forecasting capabilities for land use include the following:

  • Demographics analyses - We evaluate current and projected population growth trends in parallel with current and proposed land uses to identify areas with high growth pressure. Historic and projected population growth rates are analyzed to identify areas where population expansion is expected to either be accelerated, stagnant, or in decline.
  • Development trends - SAIC monitors which land areas are available for development and property ownership, current and projected economic base, existing and planned infrastructure, and the financial resources of the local governments and developers. SAIC also monitors overall land development trends with respect to existing and former pipeline alignments and known contamination areas to minimize customer liability and financial risk.
  • Current vs. proposed land use evaluations - We analyze land areas that are currently being used for agriculture with proposed land uses for development. We also evaluate vacant areas that are protected from development to identify low-risk development areas.

    • Transportation Forecasting

    SAIC combines land-use monitoring and transportation monitoring systems in order to forecast population expansion areas that potentially present a risk to customers that own existing or abandoned assets that may be environmentally impaired. We analyze an array of transportation planning-related information and data, including short-, medium-, and long-range transportation plans published at the local, state, and federal levels of government.

    We evaluate county-level transportation planning models that use population projection and anticipated land use designation data to understand how infrastructure improvements should be forecast. We monitor proposed improvements, ranging from augmentation of existing local roadways to major highway construction projects, to determine the feasibility of future development and transportation infrastructure expansion.