bim-site

Pull site data for any address — flood zone, elevation, contamination history, parcel boundaries, school district, transit proximity, zoning, and more. One call returns all of it as structured JSON. No web map to click through, no PDF to read, no account required. Use bim site assess for a full multi-layer report, or call individual verbs when you only need one thing.

Site assessment from authoritative public APIs: flood zones, elevation, contamination, parcel data, seismic hazard, NYC regulatory layers, and global satellite imagery. No API keys required for core functionality.

Feature Coverage v0.6.7 · 2026-06-09
Feature GlobalUS FedNYNYCLong IsMABostonCABay AreaSFTaiwan+US
Flood+++
Parcel
Zoning
Seismic / Hazard+
Environmental++
Schools++
Transit / Airport++
Imagery
full + extends federal key required – not covered ◆ new in v0.6.7

Claude Code compiles a parcel information package for 140 West Street, NYC — pulling zoning, flood zone, school district, environmental hazards, parcel boundary, and building history, then composing a PDF report.

Quick start

US address:

bim site assess --address "847 Meridian Ave, San Jose, CA 95125"

NYC address (29 layers):

bim site assess --address "4630 Center Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11109"

Boston address (MA layer stack):

bim site assess --address "115 Kingston St, Boston MA"

Taiwan address (v0.6.0):

bim site assess --address "台中市西屯區市政路200號"

Country is detected automatically. No flag or config change needed. Nominatim geocoder is used by default (no key). Set BIM_SITE_TGOS_APPID + BIM_SITE_TGOS_APIKEY for Taiwan house-number precision via TGOS.

Requirements

Network access to public government APIs. No API keys required for core functionality. Optional: BIM_REGRID_API_KEY (US parcel fallback), BIM_SITE_TGOS_APPID/APIKEY (Taiwan precision geocoding). See /site/llms.txt for full endpoint list.

Address vs coordinates

All verbs accept --lat + --lon (WGS84), or --address "...". assess accepts --address directly.

Rate-limit signals

When any upstream service rate-limits a request, assess returns a structured throttle_hint — no string parsing required:

{
  "throttle_hint": {
    "affected_layers": ["airport"],
    "retry_after_secs": 30,
    "advice": "1 layer(s) rate-limited. Wait 30s then retry: bim site airport.lookup --lat ... --lon ..."
  }
}

Individual verbs surface retry_after_secs and throttle_source in error.data.

Verbs

Orchestrator

Verb What it does
bim site assess --address "..." Full layer stack: detect country → geocode → jurisdiction → all applicable layers in parallel → STAC-tagged JSON. 23 layers for US, 29 for NYC.

Flood (FEMA NFHL — US)

Verb What it does
bim site flood lookup zone code, BFE (NAVD88 ft), DFIRM panel
bim site flood map --out FILE PNG map with flood zones + street basemap. Accepts --address or --lat/--lon.
bim site flood vector --out FILE DXF flood zone boundaries (local coords, metres) — imports into Revit. Accepts --address or --lat/--lon.

Zone codes: AE high risk + BFE · A high risk, no BFE · VE coastal · X shaded = moderate · X unshaded = minimal · D undetermined

Physical site

Verb Source Returns
bim site elevation USGS 3DEP (US) · Open-Meteo SRTM (TW) elevation ft + m
bim site soil USDA SSURGO (US) drainage class, farmland class, hydric flag, expansive soil risk
bim site wetlands USFWS NWI via Esri Living Atlas (US) wetland type and area
bim site seismic USGS Unified Hazard Tool (US) · Taiwan Building Code zones (TW) PGA 2%/50yr, hazard class

Environmental

Verb Source Returns
bim site contamination EPA ECHO (US) regulated facilities + violations within 1mi and 3mi
bim site hazard-score FEMA National Risk Index (US) composite risk score across 18 hazard types
bim site wildfire CAL FIRE FRAP VHFHSZ designation — CA only
bim site faults CGS (CA) · GSMMA (TW) Alquist-Priolo, liquefaction, landslide

Regulatory / context

Verb Source Returns
bim site parcel County registry (20 US metros) → Regrid · NLSC/Nominatim (TW) APN + owner (US); county/district/road (TW)
bim site transit Transitland GTFS (global) stops within ½ mile, route types — feeds CA AB2097 check
bim site opportunity HUD (US) Opportunity Zone flag, QCT flag (LIHTC 30% bonus)
bim site historic OSM Overpass (global) heritage features within 1 mile
bim site airport OSM Overpass (global) aerodromes (node + polygon) within 5 mi and 10 mi — finds JFK, LGA, EWR

School districts (NCES + Urban Institute — US)

Verb What it does
bim site school lookup district name, LEAID, enrollment, grade range
bim site school enrich --leaid finance, enrollment, staffing by LEAID (USD, not thousands)
bim site school map --out FILE PNG district boundary map
bim site school vector --out FILE DXF district boundary
bim site school search --bbox individual schools within bounding box

Zoning

Verb What it does
bim site zoning lookup (NYC) zone code, commercial overlay, special district, MapPLUTO lot data, LPC status
bim site zoning lookup --gfa N --units N (Boston) BPDA base district + overlay districts; Article 80 trigger flags — small_project_review (≥20k sf or ≥15 units), large_project_review (≥50k sf), bcdc_design_review (≥200k sf)

Boston / Massachusetts regulatory layers

Boston-specific verbs return not_applicable outside the Boston bounding box. All are wired into assess automatically for Boston addresses.

Verb Source Returns
bim site zoning lookup BPDA Zoning Subdistricts FeatureServer base district, overlay districts, Article 80 review flags
bim site cfrod Boston CFROD Article 25A Coastal Flood Resilience Overlay — 1% storm surge + 40-inch SLR scenario (goes beyond FEMA)
bim site parcel MassGIS Level 3 Parcels parcel boundary, lot area, owner — statewide MA

NYC regulatory layers

All NYC verbs return not_applicable outside the NYC bounding box. All are wired into assess automatically for NYC addresses.

Verb Source Returns
bim site hurricane-zone NYC OEM/DCP evacuation zone 1–6 (1=highest risk)
bim site landmark NYC LPC + MapPLUTO individual landmark flag, historic district name
bim site e-designation NYC OER via MapPLUTO EDesigNum CEQR hazmat/air/noise lot restriction flag
bim site stormwater-flood NYC DEP 2021 pluvial flood maps flooding category current + 2050 (pluvial; complements FEMA which is fluvial/coastal only)
bim site building-history NYC DOB + HPD via Socrata DOB job filings, DOB violations, HPD housing violations — per BBL
bim site brownfield NYSDEC Remediation Sites BCP + Superfund + Petroleum sites within 0.5 mi
bim site coastal NYSDEC state-regulated wetlands wetland class and acreage
bim site special-district NYC DCP via MapPLUTO SPDist1/2/3 + WRP overlay zoning districts, WRP coastal boundary
bim site subway MTA via NY State Open Data nearest entrances within 800m with lines and distances
bim site encumbrances NYC ACRIS via Socrata recorded easements, declarations, restrictions, agreements — per BBL

Imagery

Verb What it does
bim site satellite.map --lat --lon Global satellite PNG. No parcel registry required. Works for any coordinate worldwide.
bim site parcel.map --lat --lon Parcel boundary on street or satellite basemap. Requires county registry coverage.

Imagery options (both verbs):

# Any coordinate worldwide
bim site satellite.map --lat 48.8584 --lon 2.2945 --wayback-date latest

# NYC parcel with lot outline, June 2024 imagery
bim site parcel.map --lat 40.7282 --lon -73.9442 --wayback-date 2024-06-01 --outline

Taiwan layer stack (assess only)

Taiwan layers run automatically when --address contains Chinese characters or Taiwan place names.

Layer Source Notes
elevation Open-Meteo SRTM Keyless · global
faults GSMMA active fault zones + NCDR liquefaction Accessible from Taiwan
seismic Taiwan Building Code zones Static lookup; Taichung = 0.33g/high
school OSM Overpass 1 km Keyless
parcel NLSC Open API + Nominatim reverse County/district/road; lot# needs NLSC WFS gov credentials
zoning luz.tcd.gov.tw (cache-backed PIP) First call ~30s download + cache; instant after · TW geo-IP only
flood NCDR ArcGIS Accessible from Taiwan
airport · historic · transit OSM / Transitland Global, same as US

assess response shape

Each layer carries:

{
  "layer": "flood",
  "jurisdiction": "federal",
  "authority": "FEMA",
  "attribution": "FEMA NFHL",
  "coverage": "covered",
  "api_url": "https://hazards.fema.gov/...",
  "viewer_url": "https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home",
  "data": { "zone": "AE", "sfha": true, "bfe": 10 }
}

coverage: covered | not_covered | not_applicable (CA/NY layers outside their region) | key_required

US parcel registry coverage

21 counties pre-loaded with free no-key ArcGIS endpoints: all Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo), King County WA, Travis County TX, Maricopa County AZ, Cook County IL, NYC all 5 boroughs (Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island via MapPLUTO), St. Louis City MO, Suffolk County MA (Boston — MassGIS Level 3 Parcels). Outside covered counties, set BIM_REGRID_API_KEY for Regrid fallback.

Pipe compositions

# US lot assessment → Excel
bim site assess --address "847 Meridian Ave, San Jose, CA" | bim excel write site-report.xlsx

# NYC lot assessment (29 layers) → Excel
bim site assess --address "4630 Center Blvd, Long Island City, NY" | bim excel write nyc-report.xlsx

# NYC brownfield sites → Excel
bim site brownfield.lookup --lat 40.7282 --lon -73.9442 | bim excel write brownfields.xlsx

# Flood boundary → DXF → Revit (by coordinates)
bim site flood vector --lat 37.313 --lon -121.915 --out flood.dxf

# Flood boundary → DXF → Revit (by address)
bim site flood vector --address "847 Meridian Ave, San Jose, CA 95125" --out flood.dxf

# Global satellite imagery
bim site satellite.map --lat 35.6762 --lon 139.6503 --wayback-date 2024-01-01

# Taiwan lot assessment → Excel
bim site assess --address "台中市西屯區市政路200號" | bim excel write taichung-report.xlsx

# Boston civic site report (BPDA zoning + CFROD + MassGIS parcel)
bim site assess --address "115 Kingston St, Boston MA" | bim excel write boston-site.xlsx

# Article 80 review flags for a Boston project
bim site zoning lookup --address "115 Kingston St, Boston MA" --gfa 35000 --units 20

For agent use: /site/llms.txt