The Geospatial Intelligence Centre (GIC), which collects North American aerial data for the insurance industry on a not-for-profit basis, is expanding its operations to Australia and New Zealand.

MD Ryan Bank says the group plans to collect aerial imagery covering 90% of the Australian population and has started with flights over the Melbourne area.

US-based GIC receives funds through an assessment-based membership fee paid by insurers and is an initiative of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Information from the aerial surveys aims to improve efficiencies in underwriting, claims handling and fraud investigation.

Arrangements for Australian operations are still being discussed, but local and global companies in the region are interested and the consortium has been in touch with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), Mr Bank says.

“We had enough funding to be able to launch in Australia, start the flight program and start collecting that data, and we are in the process now of finalising that membership agreement with the major Australian insurers and we are continuing to work closely with the ICA,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Mr Bank is visiting New Zealand next week, where the group is also planning to expand.

GIC uses fixed-wing aircraft with large survey-grade cameras to collect high-resolution vertical and oblique images. In the US the data is updated each year for the top 150 metropolitan areas.

Flights are sent again over regions after catastrophes, allowing insurers and other groups to assess the impact of disasters.

Mr Bank says the data collection approach and technology offers greater capacity and fewer restrictions compared with drones, which are increasingly used in loss adjusting.

After Hurricane Michael, 14 planes collected high resolution imagery over two days covering 85,000 square kilometres, equivalent to an area the size of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with information available for insurers 24-hours later, Mr Bank says.

The technology was also used in assessing damage from the California wildfires, allowing insurers to rapidly see how policyholders were affected and to quickly settle claims.

“We can enable insurers to transform the way the customer experiences the insurance relationship,” he said.

Information collected by GIC is made available to emergency responders and other priority organisations “at no cost, courtesy of the insurance industry”, he says.

Current members include Munich Re, which is also a data analytics partner, Axa, MetLife, Argo Insurance, Travelers, Brit, Allstate and USAA.

Mr Bank says the Australian insurance and geospatial market is an attractive opportunity and the weather and climate was also favourable.

“From a collection standpoint, we can do it cost-effectively and efficiently,” he said.