BETTERVIEW
AI-powered property intelligence platform for P&C insurance underwriting, renewals, and claims -- now part of Nearmap
Overview
Betterview is a property intelligence and risk management platform for P&C insurers, applying artificial intelligence and computer vision to high-resolution aerial imagery and geospatial data to generate actionable property risk assessments. Founded in 2014 by David Lyman and David Tobias, Betterview enables carriers to automate and improve pricing, underwriting, and renewals decisions using imagery of 100M+ US properties (covering 87% of the US population), updated up to three times per year.
In December 2023, Nearmap -- one of the world's largest aerial imagery providers -- acquired Betterview to enhance its property intelligence offerings for the insurance market. The combined platform continues to serve the P&C insurance market under the Betterview brand within the Nearmap product suite. In May 2025, Nearmap further expanded its insurance capabilities by acquiring itel, an independent provider of property claims solutions including building material pricing and repair-versus-replace analysis, creating a comprehensive platform bridging insurance underwriting and claims.
As of early 2026, Betterview by Nearmap serves dozens of P&C carriers across the US with aerial imagery, AI risk scoring, and deep integrations into core insurance platforms such as Guidewire PolicyCenter.
Products & Services
Betterview Platform
Core property intelligence platform combining AI, computer vision, and high-resolution aerial imagery for insurance risk assessment throughout the policy lifecycle.
Key Features
- 100-point Roof Spotlight Index for overall roof condition scoring
- Detection of 130+ property attributes (pools, solar panels, vegetation, outbuildings, structures)
- Peril risk scores for hail, hurricanes, wildfires, and wind exposure
- Real-time change detection via property event monitoring
- Proximity alerts for risk combinations
- Distance measurement between buildings
Target Users: P&C underwriters, renewal teams, property risk managers
ImpactResponse
Disaster and catastrophe event response product for rapid post-event property assessment.
Key Features
- Rapid imagery acquisition after catastrophe events
- Automated property damage assessment at scale
- Portfolio-level CAT event triage
Target Users: Catastrophe management teams, claims operations
Partner Connect
Data integration hub aggregating 2,500+ data points from industry data partners.
Key Features
- Connects external geospatial and property data sources
- Unified data delivery to underwriting workflows
- 37+ partners in the PartnerHub ecosystem
Target Users: IT and data integration teams at carriers
Nearmap Accelerator for Guidewire PolicyCenter
Cloud-native Guidewire extension launched October 2025 that embeds Betterview property intelligence directly into PolicyCenter underwriting workflows.
Key Features
- Betterview property flags automatically mapped as underwriting issues
- Property report PDFs instantly uploaded into the policy file document portal
- Eliminates custom development and reduces IT maintenance costs
- Includes high-resolution aerial imagery, AI condition insights, predictive peril scores
Target Users: Guidewire PolicyCenter users (underwriters, IT)
At a Glance
- Founded
- 2014
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Employees
- 201-500 (as part of Nearmap, ~489 total)
- Funding
- Acquired (by Nearmap, December 2023)
Category & Focus
- Category
- Underwriting & Risk
- Subcategories
- Property Intelligence Aerial Imagery AI Risk Scoring Change Detection
- Insurance Verticals
- P&C Personal P&C Commercial
- Target Customers
- Carriers
Customers
- Ohio Mutual Insurance -- "The Betterview platform has fundamentally changed the way we look at our book" (Steve Lust, Senior Underwriter)
- Franklin Mutual Insurance Group -- Analyzed 75,000+ policies; streamlined underwriting and reduced unnecessary field inspections
- Midwest Family Mutual Insurance Company -- Deployed across 24-state book to address roof-related losses
- Zurich North America -- Strategic integration (October 2025) delivering aerial imagery and AI insights to U.S. Middle Market underwriting platform
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Last updated: 2026-04-09