Aerial imagery for US insurance: which vendor for your situation (April 2026)
A decision guide for US insurance aerial-imagery vendor selection. Instead of ranking vendors in order, this page walks through the seven buyer situations that actually determine the choice and recommends a vendor for each.
For a straight ranked comparison see the graph-landscape view. For a data-only view see the data view.
If you are a US carrier standardising on Moody's RMS for catastrophe modelling, pick Cape Analytics.
If you need claims-inspection workflow with guaranteed fresh imagery, pick Nearmap.
If you need the deepest historical archive for property-trending, pick EagleView.
For wildfire-specific risk, look at Zesty.ai (different category).
Which to pick
| Scenario | Recommended |
|---|---|
| If you are standardising on Moody's RMS for catastrophe modelling and want one vendor across property attributes + cat signals | Cape Analytics |
| If you need fresh imagery on demand for claims inspection (wind, hail, wildfire, hurricane) | Nearmap |
| If you need deep historical imagery to track property condition over time | EagleView |
| If your primary use case is AI-derived property attributes at scale (roof condition, pool, trampoline) | Cape Analytics or Nearmap (via Betterview) |
| If your primary use case is wildfire / catastrophe risk scoring | Zesty.ai (separate category from broad aerial imagery) |
| If you already have an Arturo contract | Migrate immediately (Arturo ceased operations mid-2025) |
| If your book is mostly commercial and you want oblique imagery for damage assessment | EagleView or Nearmap |
Ranking criteria
- Use case (underwriting vs claims vs catastrophe modelling)
- Imagery freshness vs archive depth requirement
- Existing modelling-stack integration (Moody's RMS, AIR, etc.)
- Geographic coverage needs
- Ownership stability
Default for carriers building on Moody's RMS or prioritising AI-derived property attributes.
Buyer situation fit. Cape Analytics fits three common situations: carriers standardising on Moody's RMS for catastrophe modelling, carriers prioritising AI-derived property attributes as the core product (not imagery access itself), and carriers whose existing data provider is already Moody's on another line.
Why Cape for these situations. The January 2025 Moody's acquisition pairs Cape with the RMS catastrophe stack on one vendor relationship. For a carrier building on Moody's, Cape is now the path of least integration resistance. Named US customers or strategic investors: Hippo, Amica, State Auto, The Hartford, CSAA, Cincinnati Insurance, State Farm Ventures.
When Cape is the wrong pick. If your use case is imagery access itself (oblique views for damage assessment, fresh flight captures after a storm), Cape uses licensed third-party imagery rather than owning a capture fleet. Nearmap or EagleView fit better for imagery-first workflows.
Default for claims-inspection workflows and carriers who need fresh imagery on demand.
Buyer situation fit. Nearmap fits carriers whose primary aerial use case is claims inspection (wind, hail, hurricane, wildfire post-event), carriers wanting one vendor for both imagery access and AI property attributes (via Betterview), and carriers that need guaranteed geographic freshness in their primary markets.
Why Nearmap for these situations. Owns its own capture fleet and orthorectification pipelines since the Pictometry era. Took Betterview in December 2023 for the AI layer. Named US carriers: Kin Insurance (Hurricane Ian deployment), Arch Insurance, Ohio Mutual, Allied Trust, Frederick Mutual.
When Nearmap is the wrong pick. If you need integration into Moody's RMS specifically, Cape Analytics now sits inside that stack. If you need imagery going back 15+ years, EagleView's archive is deeper.
Ownership. Thoma Bravo take-private at AUD $1.055B completed December 2022. Private-equity hold expected 3-7 years. No announced follow-on transaction.
Default when archive depth is the primary requirement.
Buyer situation fit. EagleView fits carriers that need to track property condition over multi-year windows (trending, depreciation, pre-loss baselines), carriers with workflow tied to oblique imagery specifically (Pictometry heritage), and large carriers with existing EagleView contracts where switching cost outweighs differentiation.
Why EagleView for these situations. 60-petabyte imagery library dating to 2001. EagleView OnSite produced a documented 30-40% cycle-time reduction on wind/hail claims at Allstate (2018 Novarica Impact Award).
When EagleView is the wrong pick. For AI-derived property attributes at scale, Cape or Betterview (inside Nearmap) have a more differentiated CV stack. EagleView's AI layer (OmniEarth 2017 acquisition) is functional but less structurally distinct.
Ownership. Jointly held by Vista Equity Partners and Clearlake Capital since 2018. No announced IPO or re-sale.
Buyer reality
What a carrier procurement team should expect on scope, budget, and integration cost.
Situation-scoped diligence questions.
- Moody's RMS buyer: ask Cape about single-contract unification across property attributes + cat signals. Ask how the RMS integration prices vs buying each signal separately.
- Claims-inspection buyer: ask Nearmap about guaranteed imagery refresh cadence in your primary geographies, and about post-event flight SLAs after named catastrophes.
- Archive-depth buyer: ask EagleView about per-property longitudinal series going back 15+ years in your top markets, and about oblique-imagery availability at 1-inch ground-sample-distance.
- AI-attributes-first buyer: ask Cape and Betterview-via-Nearmap for head-to-head model-accuracy benchmarks on your carrier's specific loss-prediction use case.
Switching cost signals.
- If you migrate from Arturo, expect 6-9 months to rebuild attribute pipelines against the new vendor's API shape.
- Moving from Nearmap to Cape (or reverse) typically takes 3-6 months in integration alone; the underlying property-identifier mappings rarely match.
- EagleView's image formats and archive structure are distinct; do not assume interoperability.
Deployment-window risk.
- Cape: 1-year post-Moody's acquisition. Roadmap is currently stable but watch for RMS-suite bundling that may change unit economics in years 2-3.
- Nearmap: ~3 years into Thoma Bravo ownership. Mid-window for PE hold.
- EagleView: 8 years into Vista/Clearlake joint ownership. Potential for secondary sale within the next 36 months.
Also considered
- Betterview
Folded into Nearmap December 2023. Not independently procurable at scale. If your situation is 'AI property attributes via Betterview', the answer is Nearmap.
- Zesty.ai
Right answer only for wildfire or catastrophe-risk-specific scoring. Different category from general aerial imagery analysis; do not substitute for Cape / Nearmap / EagleView on general property underwriting.
Discontinued — do not procure
- arturo
Ceased operations mid-2025. If you currently have an Arturo contract, the situation-fit recommendation is: migrate to Cape (if Moody's shop), Nearmap (claims), or EagleView (archive). Named Arturo carriers migrating: American Family, Hippo, Canopius, Branch, Openly.
Sources
- Moody's agrees to acquire Cape Analytics — TechCrunch
- Thoma Bravo completes acquisition of Nearmap Ltd — PR Newswire
- Nearmap announces agreement to acquire Betterview — Carrier Management
- EagleView OnSite Integral to Allstate Winning Novarica Impact Award — EagleView
- Arturo ceases operations after asset sale — The Insurer