1. What is WacoProspector.com?

WacoProspector.com is the clearing house for commercial, office, industrial, and land (greenfield and master planned developments) listings in Greater Waco.  This effort is enhanced by providing commercial real estate professionals and researchers convenient web-based site-selection, demographic and business analysis, thematic mapping, and marketing reports on available properties and the Greater Waco region.  The April 2009 upgrade of the system has allowed features to be dynamically generated and manipulated in real-time using the familiar Google Maps interface.  The service is powered by GIS Planning's ZoomProspector software and is provided by the Greater Waco Chamber for free to all users.

2. How are commercial properties listed in WacoProspector.com?

Any commercial broker, property owner, developer, or similar real estate entity can list available commercial or industrial properties in the system.  Although there is no cost to participate, the listing services are only available to members of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. Those who use the system are provided with site-specific data and a host of tools to better characterize a location.  With their informed list of leads, visitors can then contact the respective brokers directly about specific properties.  As a value added service, those who list on WacoProspector.com benefit from additional exposure resulting from the Chamber’s marketing efforts and trade show participation.

3. How do commercial real estate professionals get access to WacoProspector.com?

It is as easy as 1-2-3. (1) The company can call or email WacoProspector.com staff to request an individual, secure, company log-in, and password. (2) The company's designated listing administrator enters data directly into a user-friendly form.  Until company is familiar with the system, Greater Waco Chamber staff can assist with this process (3) Users will instantly see all entered data on the property including available square feet, rates, photographs, and any additional detail that has been entered by the company.

4. How do users access WacoProspector.com?

Absolutely anyone, anywhere can view and use WacoProspector.com by visiting the website at www.WacoProspector.com or by linking from www.WacoChamber.com. The easy-to-use and familiar Google Maps interface allows anyone with an Internet connection to take advantage of the site’s many features.

5. How is WacoProspector.com different from other site selection sites/services?

WacoProspector.com is indeed a unique system lying at the forefront of online GIS development. In addition to the property listings and the current-year demographic and economic information that is available, WacoProspector.com offers access to a breadth of important proprietary local data that is often critical to relocation and/or expansion decisions.  By utilizing this data, one can determine, on a site-by-site basis, what it is that differentiates a location.  Whether one is utilizing the new thematic “heat” maps to categorize an area, or simply taking a look at the neighborhood with Google “Street View”, users will know immediately that functional data is only mouse-clicks away.

6. What type of properties will be listed?

Commercial, office, industrial, retail, and land (greenfield and master planned developments) properties will be catalogued and displayed on WacoProspector.com.

7. How will the website connect interested parties to the listing broker?

Each listing provides the contact information for that particular listor.  This information, as well as all previously entered information pertaining to the site, can be edited at anytime by the “owner” of the contact.

8. What types of companies are using WacoProspector.com?

Commercial and retail firms large and small are taking advantage of this free service. Additionally, businesses, developers, and smaller merchants who are Chamber Members and have excess property take advantage of this system.  The only restriction is that the system is not meant to be used for residential sales.

9. How often will data be updated?

Commercial real estate professionals can update their data 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  We strongly encourage those who have listings to maintain the data whenever a change occurs so that the inventory of available properties remains current.   Demographic data, consumer expenditure data, business and workforce data are all updated yearly, providing the most up-to-date information available in these respective categories. Some data will be updated as frequently as necessary to maintain a current and robust database.

10. What kind of information can users access?

WacoProspector.com offers users access to 15 GIS mapping “layers” and 6 different thematic map layers.  All can be viewed using Google Street View, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Terrain formats.  Site specific data can include as much or as little data as the real estate professional enters, and typically includes at the minimum pricing (for sale or lease and rates), size (square feet or acreage), contact information, relative location,  and structural information (doors, ceilings, utilities and more).  Users also have access to both demographic and business reports, providing data within a given radius around a site (0.25 miles to 60 miles).  Valuable insight on workforce, educational attainment, retail sales, professions common to the area and more are easily gleaned from these reports.

11. Why is the Greater Waco Chamber investing in WacoProspector.com?

The Greater Waco Chamber recognizes the importance of expanding and sustaining its business community and is therefore committed to making "doing business" as easy as possible. Current research suggests that 80 percent of the initial site selection screening is now done through the Internet. With the growing number of people who conduct business on the Internet, WacoProspector.com provides an invaluable, real-time service to the many businesses that contact the Greater Waco Chamber seeking site selection information.

12. How will companies know about the WacoProspector.com GIS site? How is the Greater Waco Chamber marketing it?

The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce actively promotes the use of WacoProspector.com.  There are links to the service found of the Grater Waco Chamber website as well as a link on other frequently trafficked sites.  Banners, brochures and e-News publications are presented at trade shows throughout the state and to carefully targeted firms and organizations. Furthermore, through the collaborative efforts between GIS Planning and the Greater Waco Chamber, WacoProspector.com can be promoted through social networking sites.

13. What is GIS?

GIS is an abbreviation for the term "Geographic Information System". A GIS combines layers of geographic information about a place that provides a snapshot of a particular location.  This data can be as generic (“bird’s eye” view), or as in depth (down to utility diameters and topography), as necessary.  In the case of WacoProspector.com, the Internet-based GIS allows businesses to make fact-based decisions to identify optimal business locations using our integrated demographics and business reports. WacoProspector.com allows website users to customize the analysis to their specific needs.

14. What resources are available to help me use WacoProspector.com?

The Greater Waco Chamber is always available to assist users of the site with their efforts – be it real estate professionals posting a listing or an individual searching for a site from which to do business.  Additionally, we have prepared several resources (available upon request) that will instruct in the fine-tuning of searches and the use of several of the more advanced functions available in WacoProspector.com.