Methodology & Data Sources

How every score is calculated, where the data comes from, and what we cover.

Exposure Index (Area Disclosure)

The Exposure Index measures how safe the immediate area around an address is, based on reported crime incidents within the past 365 days. It is designed to give homebuyers and renters an honest picture of local crime exposure — the kind of area disclosure data that listing sites never show.

How it works

• Search radius: 0.7 miles from the target address
• Time window: Rolling 365 days
• Data source: crime_incidents table (120K+ records from 12+ law enforcement agencies)
• Violent incidents (assault, robbery, homicide, sexual battery) carry a heavier penalty (8 points each) because they represent direct physical danger
• Property incidents (burglary, theft, vandalism, vehicle theft) carry a lighter penalty (2 points each) because they represent financial risk, not bodily harm

Score ranges

Range	Rating	Meaning
80–100	Excellent	Very few incidents; low exposure
60–79	Good	Moderate activity; typical suburban area
40–59	Fair	Elevated activity; research further
0–39	Poor	High incident density; significant exposure

Amenity Access Score

The Amenity Access Score measures how well-served an address is by everyday services and infrastructure. It queries the amenities table (42K+ POIs) within a 3km radius and applies category-specific weights.

Category	Weight
Grocery stores	20%
Restaurants	15%
Hospitals / Urgent care	15%
Bus stops / Transit	15%
Parks	10%
Schools	10%
Libraries	5%
Places of worship	5%
Fuel stations	5%

Each category is scored based on the count of nearby amenities (with diminishing returns past a threshold), then multiplied by its weight. The final score is normalized to 0–100. An address near multiple grocery stores, a hospital, and good transit will score much higher than one in a rural area with only a gas station.

Deal Score Pro

The Deal Score is a composite index designed for investors and serious buyers. It combines six risk and livability factors into a single number that indicates how favorable an address is relative to comparable Florida locations. This is a Pro-only feature.

Factor	Weight		What it measures
Safety	25%		Exposure Index score (crime density)
Flood Risk	20%		FEMA flood zone designation + elevation
School Quality	15%		FL DOE school grades for nearby schools
Amenity Access	15%		Amenity Access Score (see above)
Environmental	15%		Proximity to toxic sites, Superfund, brownfields
Nighttime Safety	10%		Crime patterns during nighttime hours (8PM–6AM)

Each factor is scored 0–100 independently, then combined using the weights above. A Deal Score above 75 generally indicates a low-risk, well-located property. Below 40 signals significant concerns in one or more categories.

3AM Dog Walk (Comfort Score)

The 3AM Dog Walk score answers a simple question: Would you feel comfortable walking your dog outside at 3AM? It is an intuitive safety metric that goes beyond raw crime counts to incorporate community-level quality-of-life data.

Factor	Weight
Crime density (nighttime violent + property)	40%
Community reports (noise, disturbance, vagrancy)	25%
Homeless activity reports	15%
Street lighting coverage	10%

Data Sources

ScopeOut pulls from government databases, open data portals, and public records. We do not use any proprietary or paid data aggregators. Every data point can be traced to a government source.

Crime

Source	Coverage	Method
Tampa Police Department	City of Tampa	ArcGIS REST API
Hillsborough County Sheriff	Unincorporated Hillsborough	ArcGIS REST API
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office	Duval County	Open data portal
Miami Police Department	City of Miami	ArcGIS REST API
Miami-Dade PD	Unincorporated Miami-Dade	ArcGIS REST API
Orlando Police Department	City of Orlando	Open data portal
Orange County Sheriff	Unincorporated Orange	Open data portal
Pinellas County Sheriff	Pinellas County	Open data portal
Volusia County Sheriff	Volusia County	ArcGIS REST API
Broward Sheriff's Office	Broward County	Open data portal
Seminole County Sheriff	Seminole County	Open data portal
Alachua County (PRR)	Gainesville area	Public records request

Crime data refreshes daily for most sources. All records are geocoded and normalized to a common schema with crime_type, date_reported, lat, lon, and source_agency fields. Only incidents within the past 365 days are used for scoring.

Flood & Storm

Source	Data
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL)	Flood zone designations (A, AE, V, VE, X, etc.)
NOAA / FL Division of Emergency Management	Hurricane evacuation zones (A–E)
USGS 3DEP	Ground elevation (feet above sea level)

Schools

Source	Data
Florida Department of Education	School grades (A–F), school locations, type (elementary/middle/high)

School grades are updated annually when the FL DOE releases new ratings (typically summer). ScopeOut shows schools within 3 miles of the target address.

Census & Demographics

Source	Data
U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates	Median income, population density, housing tenure, age distribution
Census TIGER/Line	Census tract boundaries

Code Enforcement

Source	Coverage	Method
Accela ACA Portals	Tampa, Broward County	HTML scraping (ASP.NET ViewState)
Jacksonville EPICS	Duval County	REST API (via Playwright)
Miami-Dade ArcGIS	Miami-Dade County	ArcGIS Feature Service
Volusia County ArcGIS	Volusia County	ArcGIS MapServer
Orange County ArcGIS	Orange County	ArcGIS MapServer

Code enforcement data refreshes weekly (Mondays). Records include violation type, status, address, and case number.

Environmental

Source	Data
Florida DEP Contamination Locator	Toxic release sites, cleanup status
EPA Superfund / CERCLIS	Superfund sites, brownfields
FL DEP Sinkhole Database	Reported sinkholes

Other Layers

Source	Data
HUD / FL Housing Finance Corp	Subsidized housing, Section 8, public housing locations
FL DBPR	Short-term rental licenses
FAA / Airport authorities	Airport noise contours
HART, JTA, MDT, Lynx	Transit routes and bus stops
Local building departments	Active construction permits
FL AHCA / SAMHSA	Treatment centers, group homes
Zillow / Public MLS feeds	Market estimates (median home price context)

Coverage Gaps

ScopeOut does not have equal data coverage across all 67 Florida counties. We are transparent about where data exists and where gaps remain. Coverage is strongest in major metro areas and weakest in rural counties.

Crime data coverage

Flood zones, school grades, census data, and environmental layers have statewide coverage because they come from federal or state-level sources. Crime, code enforcement, and transit data depend on local agency availability and are added county by county.

Live Data Freshness

Current pipeline status, pulled from the live API. Shows when each data source was last refreshed.