Our Data Sources

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Soil map unit polygons and 34+ tabular properties (pH, drainage, texture, organic matter, hydraulic conductivity) queried at runtime for your parcel. 1:24,000 scale.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Flood zone classification, regulatory floodway status, and base flood elevation. Queried on-demand via NFHL MapServer API.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Surface water features including rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. Used for distance-to-water calculations.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

HUC-12 subwatershed identification via spatial join from parcel centroid.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)

Wetland and deepwater habitat classification using the Cowardin system. Overlap detection and proximity analysis.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

CWA Section 303(d) impaired waters. Nearest impaired waterbody distance for irrigation water quality context.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Bare-earth elevation for slope and aspect, plus LiDAR-classified building footprints where 3DEP LiDAR has been flown. A seamless national elevation floor covers parcels without LiDAR.

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, University of Montana

A 0.6-meter leaf-on canopy-height model built from summer NAIP aerial imagery. Modelled by a neural network — the summer foliage height that actually shades a growing bed.

Meta AI & World Resources Institute (CC BY 4.0)

A 1-meter global canopy-height model, used to fill gaps in NAIP-CHM coverage.

Open-source (BSD 3-Clause)

Solar altitude and azimuth. Sun positions for 8 representative days across the year, hourly from sunrise to sunset.

Peer-reviewed — Theoretical and Applied Climatology

Measured seasonal canopy transmissivity — how much direct sun passes through leaf-on versus bare-branch canopy — so shade reads season by season.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Modelled solar irradiance, used as the deep last-resort fallback for parcels where no scene can be built. Named honestly as a fallback, never as the primary read.

National Ecological Observatory Network (NSF)

Airborne-LiDAR canopy heights at 8 US sites, used to independently validate the canopy model to within about 3 meters of height.

PRISM Group, Oregon State University

Temperature and precipitation normals (1991–2020) on PRISM's 800 m grid (lower 48). Basis for growing degree days, chill hours, and precipitation assessment.

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Hourly climate normals for 1991–2020. Prevailing wind comes from the nearest station.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Hardiness zone classification from 30-year minimum temperature normals (2023 revision). Primary gate constraint for perennial plant survival.

NOAA Regional Climate Centers

Gridded daily temperature record, about 4 km across the lower 48. Last and first 28°F frost dates, growing season length, days above 90°F, and heavy-rain days.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Superfund/CERCLIS/Brownfield sites within 2km. NPL severity ranking and proximity assessment.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Petroleum storage tank registration records within 1km. Open/closed facility status tracking.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Industrial chemical release data within 10km. Self-reported under EPCRA Section 313. Includes downwind classification.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

County-level annual air quality statistics from monitoring stations. Median AQI and day-category counts.

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

Historic orchard detection via 6-year satellite imagery scan (2008–2023). Indicates historical probability of pesticide residue.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Gap Analysis Project

National inventory of protected areas. GAP status, designation type, managing agency, and grower compatibility assessment.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Easement boundaries for ACEP-ALE, WRP, GRP, and EWPP-FPE programs. Overlap detection and program identification.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Ecological context classification for the parcel location.

State GIS offices, county assessors, regional planning agencies

Parcel boundaries and assessment attributes for all 50 states + DC. 621+ county sub-providers. 30 land use code lookup tables.

U.S. Census Bureau

County/municipality boundary resolution for sub-state provider routing. Road proximity analysis via Transportation MapServer.

OpenStreetMap contributors

Primary address geocoder with parcel-level accuracy, via Nominatim. ODbL 1.0 license.

U.S. Census Bureau

Fallback forward geocoding and reverse geocoding for city/county/ZIP enrichment.

USGS / MRLC

National Land Cover Database at 30m resolution. Impervious surface percentage and land cover classification.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Multi-point elevation sampling from 3DEP best-available DEM. National coverage.

Growable Ground LLC

1,085 species across 167 columns. Compiled from USDA PLANTS Database, peer-reviewed horticultural literature, and expert-validated gap fills with full attribution.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Native status, growth habit, bloom period, shade/drought tolerance, and 44 characteristic fields per species.

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Federal and state regulatory pest zones that may affect plant sourcing and nursery stock transport.