Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about UrbanStat: what it does, where it has data, how accurate the wildfire model is, and how long integration takes.
About UrbanStat
What is UrbanStat?
UrbanStat is a geospatial analytics and AI platform for property insurance underwriting. It helps insurers manage portfolio exposure, select better risks, monitor hazards such as wildfire, find new business and enforce moratoriums, using location data and machine learning. See the products.
Who uses UrbanStat?
Property and casualty insurance carriers, in both personal and commercial lines. Customers include Safety Insurance, Sompo Japan, Ageas, Vienna Insurance Group, Aksigorta, Gulf Insurance, Quick Sigorta and Corpus Sigorta.
When was UrbanStat founded?
In 2014, in Istanbul, by Nilgun Dag and Anil Celik. The company expanded to North America in 2017 and reincorporated in the US as Urbanstat, Inc. More on the About page.
What makes UrbanStat different from traditional underwriting tools?
Property-level risk data with more than 30 variables, street-level exposure analysis, real-time hazard monitoring, automated moratorium management and multi-country coverage in one platform. The side-by-side table is on Why UrbanStat.
Products
What products does UrbanStat offer?
Five: Exposure Management, Risk Selection, Wildfires, Find Better Risks and Moratorium Management. The platform has more than 20 underwriting modules in total.
What results do carriers see?
Risk selection tools improve loss ratio by up to 7 points and cut underwriting time by up to 20%. Looking at about 8 years of data from about 10 carriers on 3 continents, the loss ratio of UrbanStat clients dropped by 10 points on average after they started using the platform, with individual results from 2 to 17 points.
How does moratorium management work?
An underwriter draws a polygon on the map, sets the rule (block new business, flag renewals or restrict coverage) and saves. The Risk Analysis API then enforces it in real time and keeps a full audit trail. See what an underwriting moratorium is.
Can UrbanStat help during a hurricane or wildfire?
Yes. Real-time event response overlays NOAA NowCast and storm tracking data, storm surge and wildfire data on the portfolio to show which policyholders are in the path, so controls can be set in minutes.
Wildfire model
How accurate is UrbanStat’s wildfire model?
UrbanStat reports 80.5% accuracy against 54.8% for US Forestry’s map. In blind tests, the map published before each season had rated as High or worse 90.7% of the area burned by the most destructive fires of 2019, over 85% of the area burned in 2020, and over 95% of the area burned by the 2021 Dixie Fire. Details are on wildfire model performance.
Which states does the wildfire risk map cover?
The proprietary map covers California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and Oregon. Wildfire risk maps from other organizations, covering the entire US, Canada and Europe, are also available on the platform.
What does a wildfire risk score include?
A 0 to 100 score with a categorical level, the long-term probability of occurrence, historical wildfire events at the location and real-time alerts based on climatic trends. See how a wildfire risk score works.
What variables does the wildfire model use?
More than 30, including historical climate data, power distribution networks, land use, solar radiation, hydrology, drought indices, lightning strikes and wind characteristics, in addition to slope, access and fuel.
Data and integration
Which countries does UrbanStat cover?
More than 35 countries: the US, Canada and most countries in Europe. See data coverage.
How many data points does UrbanStat provide per property?
More than 300 for every property in the US, Canada and Europe. In the US this includes parcel and permit data, across more than 30 themes.
How long does integration take?
As fast as 4 weeks. UrbanStat integrates at database level, file system level or through APIs, and has ready-made integrations with Duck Creek and OneShield.
How fast is the API?
One call to the Risk Analysis API returns more than 100 results in under 5 seconds.
Do we have to integrate to use UrbanStat?
No. Carriers that prefer not to integrate can use the online portal and its web user interfaces.
Does UrbanStat use personal data or credit scores?
No. UrbanStat never uses personally identifiable information such as gender, age or ethnicity, nor credit scores or financial risk information.
Is there an uptime commitment?
Yes, a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Getting started
How do I see UrbanStat in action?
Request a demo. It is a 30-minute walkthrough tailored to your portfolio and the perils you care about.