Question 1

What is Parcela?

Accepted Answer

Parcela is an institutional land due-diligence platform covering Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Nordic countries, Canada and the United States. From a single address (or a NSW Lot/DP) it builds a property report in under 30 seconds: the site extent, planning controls, bushfire and other hazards, geology, ESG and an AI narrative.

Question 2

How does Parcela identify a site in Australia — is there a national parcel number?

Accepted Answer

No. Australia has no single national cadastre — land titling is state-based across eight jurisdictions (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA, TAS, ACT, NT), each with its own Digital Cadastral Database and Torrens register. NSW is the authoritative gold standard in Parcela: you enter an address or a Lot/DP (or Lot/SP) and Parcela resolves the real Lot polygon, area and identifier from DCS Spatial Services. In the other states and territories the site currently resolves to an INDICATIVE extent — a G-NAF address point or an OpenStreetMap building footprint — clearly marked as indicative. The national coordinate system is GDA2020 (geographic EPSG:7844; projected MGA zones).

Question 3

Is the parcel boundary on the map authoritative?

Accepted Answer

In NSW, the boundary is the authoritative DCS Spatial Services Lot/DP geometry that underpins the Torrens register — the closest thing to a definitive line short of a registered survey. In the other states and territories the extent is indicative (a G-NAF point or OSM footprint) and Parcela says so on the map. Everywhere, the definitive boundary and ownership are established by the state Land Registry title and the registered plan, and the legal boundary on the ground is a matter for a registered/licensed surveyor. Parcela does not replace a title search, a conveyancer, or a survey.

Question 4

What is bushfire / BAL screening and why does it matter?

Accepted Answer

Bushfire is Australia's signature land hazard and has no European equivalent. Parcela screens the site against mapped Bush Fire Prone Land (the NSW Rural Fire Service mapping, and the equivalent state overlays) — the trigger for a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment under AS 3959 and a bushfire development control (in NSW, Planning for Bush Fire Protection, flagged on the §10.7 planning certificate). The BAL rating (BAL-LOW through BAL-12.5/19/29/40 to BAL-FZ Flame Zone) governs the construction standard and, on the most exposed land, whether you can build at all. It is one of the first things a buyer, lender and certifier check.

Question 5

How does Parcela handle planning and zoning in Australia?

Accepted Answer

Land-use planning is set by the local Environmental Planning Instrument — in NSW the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) made under the Standard Instrument. Parcela surfaces the LEP land-use zone (e.g. R2 Low Density, R3 Medium Density, RU residential), and the principal development standards where machine-readable: minimum lot size, Floor Space Ratio (FSR), Height of Building (HOB) and the heritage / foreshore-building-line overlays — via the NSW Planning Portal, deep-linking the instrument where the policy is not machine-readable. ABS Census 2021 mesh-block / SA1 statistics give the catchment demographics. A development application, and any State Environmental Planning Policy, remain the legal references.

Question 6

What geology and seismic data does Parcela use?

Accepted Answer

Geoscience Australia provides the national surface geology (1:1M and 1:250k) for the foundation pre-assessment, plus acid-sulfate-soil risk on the coastal lowlands and the National Seismic Hazard Assessment behind AS 1170.4. Australia is an intraplate continent, so seismic hazard is lower than New Zealand's — but it is still a structural-design input, and the 1989 Newcastle earthquake is the reference reminder that it is not zero. Detailed geotechnical site investigation is still required for design.

Question 7

How does Parcela assess flood risk in Australia?

Accepted Answer

Flood planning in Australia is held by state agencies and local councils rather than a single national register. Parcela surfaces the flood planning area / flood-prone land overlays (in NSW via the Department of Planning and Environment and the council LEP, informed by the state flood-study program), and coastal-hazard and sea-level-rise overlays for low-lying and foreshore sites. The flood-related development control is a routine planning-certificate (§10.7) matter and a lending checkpoint. For sites outside a studied catchment, detailed flood mapping may be absent.

Question 8

What solar and sun-study analysis is included?

Accepted Answer

Australia has some of the highest solar irradiance on Earth. Parcela uses NASA POWER for the specific annual PV yield and the 12 monthly irradiation values on the optimal tilt for the site (PVGIS, the European model, does not cover the southern hemisphere). The report also includes a four-perspective 3D sun-path view and a plan shadow study showing overshadowing from neighbouring buildings across the day and the seasons — the architect's solar-access / overshadowing study, automated, and directly relevant to the solar-access planning controls many NSW councils apply.

Question 9

Can I export CAD/DXF or buy a Pro export pack?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A DXF/CAD export of the site outline (the authoritative NSW Lot, or the indicative extent elsewhere) plus the setback envelope and a north arrow is available as a low-price one-off add-on (AU$ 12.9), ready for AutoCAD, QGIS or FreeCAD; it is bundled free on the Professional and Enterprise plans. The Pro export pack (AU$ 24.9) is a premium one-off bundling an A3 sun-study PDF and the complete sun-study DXF for the site.

Question 10

Does Parcela replace a title search, a survey or a conveyancer?

Accepted Answer

No. The Parcela report is a technical pre-assessment. A state Land Registry title search (ownership, easements, covenants, caveats), a conveyancer or solicitor, a registered/licensed surveyor's identification of the legal boundary, a §10.7 planning certificate and a site-specific geotechnical investigation remain necessary before you commit. Parcela consolidates the open public data so you enter those steps already informed — and, for foreign buyers, FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval may be required before purchase.

Question 11

How does Parcela protect personal data?

Accepted Answer

Site data is land data, not personal data. Any owner information comes only from legally accessible public registers. Parcela complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), overseen by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Data is cached in Supabase; role-based access separates generate and export permissions, and reports are SHA-256 stamped for audit.

Question 12

Does Parcela have a public API?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A REST API covers the site lookup, planning, hazards and AI narrative, with a Bearer key from /settings/api. The Enterprise tier adds webhooks (dd_report.complete, plan_change.detected), batch DD across a portfolio and a dedicated SLA.

Question 13

What pricing is available?

Accepted Answer

Free (Open Beta) AU$ 0 — essential panels, map and a limited number of reports per month. Pay-per-report: a Property report from AU$ 79, a Due-Diligence report from AU$ 299 — one-off, no subscription. For regular use, monthly packs (Starter, Professional, Enterprise) cut the per-report price by 25–60%. Add-ons: a DXF/CAD export (AU$ 12.9) and a Pro export pack (AU$ 24.9) per site. White-label, REST API and SSO sit in the Professional and Enterprise plans (see /au/enterprise). All prices exclude GST.

Question 14

Which markets does Parcela cover?

Accepted Answer

Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. For Australia: authoritative NSW Lot cadastre (DCS Spatial Services) with indicative extents in the other states/territories, bushfire / BAL screening, LEP planning controls, Geoscience Australia geology + seismic, ABS Census 2021 demographics and NASA POWER solar — all on one interactive map.