Case Studies

With support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Loveland partnered with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to update our platform, gather data, provide our technology to government, nonprofit, and community groups, and organize property surveys across Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio.

The projects conducted took various forms, from a citywide survey of Cleveland, to a vacant housing survey of Cincinnati, to neighborhood surveys in Columbus, with various groups and individuals in each city continuing to use the tools for projects big and small.

In 2014, Detroit knew it had a blight problem - but nobody knew exactly how many structures were vacant. Because good data is crucial to good decision-making, Loveland Technologies teamed up with Data Driven Detroit and the Blight Elimination Task Force led by Dan Gilbert to conduct an ambitious survey: photograph and evaluate every single property within Detroit's 139 square miles. 200 Detroiters used Loveland’s parcel mapping technology and property surveying app to get the job done. Data from this unprecedented effort led to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding allocated to blight removal and demolitions, as well as providing valuable information to City Hall, developers, and neighborhood groups about the state of their city.

History will marvel that Detroit’s most intense period of displacement and property damage happened in the 21st century through a misguided tax foreclosure and auction system that traded money in the short-term for long-lasting damage to people and property. Loveland cut against the political grain to show what is happening and how it can be changed through better outreach and better policy. Local government and organizations use data from Landgrid and the mobile app to visit people facing foreclosure, understand their situation, connect them to the resources they need, and advocate for change.
People Are Making Big Money Kicking Detroit Residents Out Of Their Homes (HBO)  (featuring a brief appearance by Loveland CEO, Jerry Paffendorf, at the Loveland office in Detroit)