National Parcel Number USA LLC [NPN USA LLC]
National Common Parcel Indexing (NCPI) is about a world where everyone has a Social Security Number, every automobile has a VIN, and every land parcel has an NPN (National Parcel Number), a globally unique, persistent ID assigned to every parcel and all related land records. National Common Land Parcel Indexing has been a mandatory cadastral requirement since the 1980 Panel on Multipurpose Cadaster NRC Report. It has been a long-time codified requirement of the International Association of Assessment Officials. Though this has been called for in the Congressional Record for many years, no comparable public or private sector effort has been encountered in the last five years. Key to the broad adoption of NCPI is enabling all land-record-related users to understand how NCPI got started, where it is now, how to accomplish it, and the universal game-changing benefits that will flow from it.
Why NPN USA? Strictly out of necessity. Without a unique, persistent machine-driven ID assigned to every parcel polygon, a national parcel layer service deployed on ArcGIS Online cannot be updated. Parcelndex© NCPI Assignment Service, with all the tech in place and motivated by the broad spectrum of industry benefits, Parcelndex© was presented to the Open Geospatial Consortium for consideration as an International Parcel ID standard. Another driving force is the absurdity that while over 40 other nations have achieved national common parcel indexing or are getting close, the USA has not yet taken a first step. This is just one more way America is becoming a backward country. No Bullet Train. HUGE lack of belief. No National Common Parcel Indexing [NCPI], TINY lack of belief to be fixed by Parcelndex©.
The first attempt to implement NCPI was to recruit all data providers [counties] via a congressional initiative to subsidize all local costs, including lost data sales revenue, to implement NCPI. Starting with great enthusiasm by many, it was stopped by the GIO of Cobb County GA, who, unfortunately, was also the Chair of COGO, a consortium of some dozen geo-related Professional NGOs. Adverse to any threat to the County’s $22,000 digital parcel map price tag, when her announcement there was ‘no interest’ was met with ‘what about the public interest,’ her piercing shriek and slamming down of the phone is just a sample of the country’s current pervasive cynicism. Attempted recruitment of other long-acquainted leading state and federal leaders was often met with comments like, ‘Hey. It’s America. It’s broken. So?
Dennis Klein could not settle for that. As an OCS Combat Engineer Officer, Klein received the rare gift of facing the fire with 4000 other officially ordinary GIs for 16 months in the Korean DMZ ’68 in our last ‘right fight.’ This unreported victory not only averted the nuclear end of the world but gave birth to a 1st World South Korea, then sticks and mud. The seamless universal trust and honor in the ranks Klein encountered left him knowing how good we are and will be.
As the founder of the National Parcel Number USA LLC (NPN USA LLC), Klein leads an ambitious endeavor to develop National Common Parcel Indexing (NCPI). This system assigns a unique, durable identification number to each land parcel and its related information. In the face of long-standing requests for NCPI adoption, Klein’s drive demonstrates a desire to move the country into a new era of effective land management.
Navigating a challenging situation, Klein’s NPN USA LLC embarked on its goal to promote NCPI adoption. The first efforts to enroll data suppliers, notably counties, were greeted with suspicion and opposition. The reluctance of stakeholders, motivated by fears about prospective financial losses and ingrained bureaucratic lethargy, emphasized the enormity of the job at hand. However, Klein’s unflinching drive and military history instilled in him a persistent will to overcome hurdles and persevere in the face of hardship.
Undeterred by failures, NPN USA LLC shifted its approach under Dennis Klein’s leadership, concentrating on involving data users in assigning National Parcel Numbers (NPNs) to real estate records. This strategy decision paved the way for establishing Parcelndex’s NCPI Assignment Service. Parcelndex’s presentation to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) drew notice for its novel methodology and ability to accelerate NCPI implementation nationwide.
Parcelndex’s design focuses on assigning NPNs, which include a locational component based on the parcel’s centroid and a property ID component that connects parcel borders to multi-ownership data. Parcelndex©’s Plus Codes, driven by Open Location Code, provide a global answer to the complicated task of land parcel identification. Furthermore, a persistent public communication effort led by NPN USA LLC has played a critical role in increasing awareness about the transformational effects of NCPI adoption, emphasizing the need for mass involvement in attaining this goal.
As we delve deeper into the technical complexities and numerous benefits of NCPI implementation in the following sections, it becomes clear that Klein and NPN USA LLC are at the forefront of a paradigm shift in land parcel indexing that has the potential to reshape the landscape of land management in the United States.
The implementation of NCPI offers several advantages that go well beyond land parcel indexing. At the forefront is the improved due diligence made possible by the seamless retrieval of property information from several sources via a single NPN. By improving access to data intelligence services and associated databases, NCPI enables stakeholders to undertake thorough property evaluations with unprecedented efficiency.
Furthermore, NCPI promotes interoperability across diverse datasets, removing the need for proprietary indexing and allowing for seamless data integration. This interoperability will tremendously help real estate analytics, as analysts can use standard parcel indexing to undertake in-depth studies and deliver actionable insights. The resultant analytical rigor improves predictability in real estate markets while preparing the path for creating novel investment methods and risk mitigation measures.
Furthermore, NCPI provides the groundwork for developing a National Real Estate Sales Index, similar to a Wall Street stock index, which would give the investors established benchmarks for assessing real estate performance and trends. Adopting a consistent parcel indexing system also accelerates the formation of a thriving land intelligence business, opening up new options for market players and driving economic growth.
The partnership between NPN USA LLC and the Department of Energy (DOE) marks a critical milestone for NCPI implementation. The DOE uses Parcelndex© NCPI Assignment Service to improve energy efficiency in America’s buildings by standardizing the relationship between Unique Building IDs (UBIDs) and Universal Parcel IDs (NPNs). Integrating Parcelndex© with the DOE’s Standard Efficiency Data (SEED) Platform enables the systematic assignment of essential energy variables and benchmark metrics to particular buildings, leading to improved energy management and sustainability initiatives nationwide.
Photo Courtesy: National Common Parcel Indexing
Parcelndex’s achievement in matching building UBIDs to parcel borders in Manhattan demonstrates its ability to handle complicated geographical information. Parcelndex has allocated NPNs to over 44,000 building UBIDs, demonstrating its capacity to support complex ownership arrangements in highly populated metropolitan regions. This result verifies Parcelndex’s scalability and adaptability, highlighting its potential as a global standard for parcel indexing in varied geographical situations.
To demonstrate the transformational effect of NCPI implementation and under Dennis Klein’s leadership, NPN USA LLC performed a thorough National Common Parcel Indexing Benefits Survey, gathering data from over ten nations that have achieved or are approaching NCPI compliance. The study results highlight the many advantages of NCPI adoption, which range from increased data dependability and analytical rigor to greater interoperability and market openness. By recording the concrete effects of NCPI implementation in various national settings, the survey provides strong evidence of NCPI’s effectiveness and relevance in the current era of land management.
In February 2024, Dennis Klein and NPN USA LLC completed the biggest Parcelndex© National Pilot Test. Parcelndex© successfully added a National Parcel Number Field to over 30 million entries in a major Real Estate Intelligence Service Provider’s database within 30 minutes, indicating its suitability for commercial implementation. This milestone confirms Parcelndex’s practical viability and highlights its potential to transform data integration and interoperability in the real estate market.
The route to NCPI acceptance marks a watershed milestone in the growth of land parcel indexing in the United States. While great progress has been achieved, much more work must be done to fulfill NCPI’s aims to fully improve data openness, interoperability, and analytical rigor in land management. With ongoing advocacy and cooperation, stakeholders can capitalize on NCPI’s revolutionary capacity to usher in a new era of efficiency and innovation in land resource management.
Published by: Martin De Juan
