Overview
In addition to the API, BPD offers parcel data as flat file exports: full county or statewide datasets delivered as structured files. Flat files are the right choice when you need to process large volumes of parcels, run offline analysis, or build embeddings and AI pipelines.API vs. flat files
Use the API when you need real-time access, geographic queries against user-submitted polygons, or per-parcel lookups in a live application.
Use flat files when you need more than 5,000 parcels/month, are benchmarking data quality before committing, building embeddings for an AI workflow, or loading parcel data into your own data warehouse.
AI and ML workflows
Flat files are the preferred delivery method for AI and ML use cases because they let you:- Generate embeddings from full parcel records in batch (e.g. using Databricks, Spark, or a local pipeline)
- Build vector search indexes over parcel text fields (owner, address, legal description)
- Run natural language search by embedding query text and retrieving semantically similar parcels
- Power agentic AI workflows that need offline access to the full parcel corpus