Historical Information Gatherers

What Historical Information Gatherers does

Historical Information Gatherers (HIG), founded in 1997 and headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota, is a privately held, founder/management-owned specialty data and research services firm serving environmental due diligence and commercial real estate workflows in the United States. The company's core product is a proprietary Digital Historical Library containing millions of historical aerial photographs, city directories, fire insurance maps, real estate atlases, and topographic maps, augmented by an exclusive 2014 partnership with the Library of Congress to digitize approximately 500,000 copyright-free color fire insurance maps. HIG monetizes this asset through four primary streams: (1) transaction-based sale of historical aerial photograph sets and custom research packages for Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessments (ASTM E1527/E2247-compliant), (2) the FIMo (Fire Insurance Maps Online) annual subscription service, (3) custom GIS-ready historical data packages for corridors, brownfield inventories, and large sites, and (4) environmental database reports resold under partnership with ERIS, Envirosite, EnviroCheck, and GeoSearch, plus land title/environmental lien searches.

Distribution is hybrid: a self-service web ordering platform (orders.historicalinfo.com) handles standard transactional sales; an inside-sales and Client Services team handles custom project quotes and account setup; and environmental consultants act as indirect channels to commercial real estate end-users. The company employs 11-50 staff including GIS professionals, professional historical property use researchers, former environmental consultants, and senior environmental professionals. Leadership comprises founder/President David Hodnefield (national expert on historical property use data sources), CEO Jeri Massengill (former chair of ASTM E50.02 Subcommittee), Director of Business Development Rich Townsend (West Region focus), and Marketing Manager Marla Smith. Marketing is anchored by ASTM committee leadership, conference speaking engagements (Groundwater Association of California, Northwest Environmental Business Council, AEHS, Environmental Bankers Association), an email newsletter (HIG InSites), and educational content on fire insurance maps and city directories. No external institutional investors, acquisitions, or AI/ML-based capabilities are disclosed in the source data.

Name

Historical Information Gatherers

Legal name

Historical Information Gatherers, Inc.

Website

https://historicalinfo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Historical Information Gatherers is a privately held, founder-owned specialty data firm founded in 1997 that compiles and sells historical aerial photographs, fire insurance maps, city directories, and environmental database reports to environmental consultants, commercial real estate professionals, libraries, government agencies, and researchers across the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Due Diligence Research Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Libraries and Archives (519210)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Historic Preservation & Conservation Planning (BPAHAKAH)

Keywords

• Environmental due diligence
• Historical property research
• Fire insurance maps
• Historical aerial photography
• Commercial real estate research

Headquarters

HQ city

Hopkins

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Historical Aerial Photographs: Sale of historical aerial photograph sets for single properties to large corridors. Products include report-ready aerials in PDF format and GIS-ready georeferenced imagery. Standard turnaround 1-2 business days.
2. FIMo Subscription Service: Online subscription service for Fire Insurance Maps. Subscriptions can be tailored by state, group of states, or entire United States. Users can select download ability or purchase imagery with maintenance fee.
3. Custom Research and GIS Services: Custom research projects, scanning services for collections, georeferencing projects, and specialized data packages for corridors, large sites, and brownfield inventories.
4. Environmental Database Reports: Database reports provided through partnerships with Envirosite and ERIS. Includes regulatory database listings, environmental lien searches, and AUL searches for environmental due diligence.
5. Land Title Reports: Environmental lien/AUL searches and chain of title reports for environmental due diligence compliance. Pricing varies by scope and turnaround time requirements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Historical Information Gatherers provides historical property research products and services, including historical aerial photographs, fire insurance maps, city directories, environmental database reports, and land title reports, primarily for environmental due diligence (Phase I/II ESAs) and commercial real estate transactions. The company maintains a proprietary Digital Historical Library with millions of digitized historical documents, and offers custom research, GIS-ready deliverables, georeferencing services, and the FIMo online subscription service for color fire insurance maps.

Product overview

Historical Information Gatherers (HIG) offers a comprehensive suite of historical property research products and services for environmental due diligence, commercial real estate, and research applications. The core product portfolio includes Historical Aerial Photographs (report-ready PDF and GIS-ready georeferenced formats), Historical Maps (Fire Insurance Maps, atlases, topographic maps), City Directories (scanned pages, abstracts, spreadsheets), and Database Reports (environmental database reports through ERIS and Envirosite partnerships). These products are often purchased individually or bundled into data packages. Add-on services include File Retrieval (local government records), Land Title Reports (Environmental Lien/AUL Searches, Chain of Title), and GIS/Scanning Services for digitizing and georeferencing collections. HIG also offers FIMo (Fire Insurance Maps Online), a subscription-based online service providing access to their collection of color fire insurance maps and real estate atlases. For large projects, the Corridors/Big Sites service provides specialized GIS-ready historical aerials and maps for transportation corridors, energy projects, and area-wide brownfield assessments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FIMo (Fire Insurance Maps Online): An online subscription service providing user-friendly access to HIG's historical map collection, including the world's largest online digital collection of color fire insurance maps, real estate atlases and similar land use maps for North America.

Products and services

• Historical Aerial Photographs Sets of historical aerial photographs spanning decades, available in report-ready PDF format or GIS-ready georeferenced formats compatible with GIS and CAD software. Sold for single properties to large corridors for environmental consultants, engineers, and CRE professionals.
• Historical Maps Historical maps including Fire Insurance Maps (FIMs), atlases/plat maps, and topographic maps provided in high-quality digital formats for property research, used to identify past land uses and structures.
• City Directories Historical city directory research providing past building occupants and property uses, available as scanned pages (PDF), abstracts (PDF), or spreadsheet format (Excel) for single addresses or entire neighborhoods.
• Database Reports Environmental database reports compiled from multiple government agencies to help identify recognized environmental conditions (RECs), including locations of contamination, compliance concerns, and permitted hazardous waste generators.
• Corridors/Big Sites GIS-Ready Historical Aerials and Historical Maps for large area projects including transportation corridors, wind farms, mining tracts, pipelines, and brownfield redevelopment areas.
• Land Title Reports Environmental Lien/AUL Searches and Chain of Title Reports for compliance with ASTM E1527 requirements, including deed searches and recorded document copies.
• FIMo (Fire Insurance Maps Online) Subscription-based online service providing user-friendly access to color fire insurance maps and real estate atlases. HIG owns the world's largest online digital collection of color fire insurance maps for North America, with subscriptions tailored by state or entire US.
• GIS/Scanning Services Digitization and georeferencing services for historical aerial photographs and maps, including custom scanning equipment for preserving collections; offered to libraries, government agencies, and large project clients.
• File Retrieval Local file review services for retrieving building permits, tax assessor records, and fire department records from city and county offices to support Phase I Environmental Site Assessments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1-2 business day standard turnaround for most products
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Library of CongresscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014HIG was selected by the Library of Congress in 2014 to digitize a significant portion of their unique fire insurance map collection. The library's collection includes approximately 1.5 million original maps from all 50 states. HIG initially digitized approximately 500,000 maps free of copyright restrictions dating back to 1867 through the early 1970s. This is one of the largest color imaging projects ever undertaken by the Library of Congress, making many maps electronically available in color for the first time.
• ERIS (Environmental Risk Information Service)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with ERIS for environmental database reports. ERIS provides database listings that HIG incorporates into their environmental due diligence products. Reports meet and exceed AAI/ASTM database requirements.
• Envirosite CorporationcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with Envirosite for government records reports. Includes access to Envirosite Atlas online platform, database listings in Excel format, and geological landscape sections. Additional options include Platinum Review for precise facility locations within half mile.
• ASTM InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHIG CEO Jeri Massengill serves as chair of ASTM E50.02 Subcommittee on Real Estate Assessment and Management. David Hodnefield serves on E2247 Task Group. HIG regularly participates in ASTM standards development, including E1527 revisions. HIG has hosted and sponsored official ASTM training courses.
• Environmental Bankers AssociationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJeri Massengill presented at EBA 2023 Virtual Conference on ASTM E2247 Phase I Standard for Forestland and Rural Properties. HIG participates in EBA conferences as sponsor and speaker.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ERIS (Environmental Risk Information Service): ERIS is both a partner and a direct competitor: it provides the database reports HIG resells, and it sells environmental risk data products (ERIS Xplorer, database reports) to the same environmental consulting and CRE diligence buyers. Closest direct match to HIG's database report stream.
• EDR (Environmental Data Resources / EDRNet): EDR is one of the largest U.S. environmental due diligence data providers, serving the same Phase I ESA and CRE due diligence market with historical research, regulatory database reports, and risk scoring. Closest large-scale analog to HIG's bundled diligence product.
• Envirosite Corporation: Envirosite is both a partner and competitor — its Atlas online platform and government records reports serve the same environmental due diligence buyers as HIG. Comparable product depth in government records and database listings.
• NETR Online (Nationwide Environmental Title Research): NETR Online provides historical aerial photographs, environmental records, and courthouse document retrieval to the same environmental consultant and CRE diligence audience. Direct peer on historical aerials and supporting research products.
• GeoSearch: GeoSearch provides environmental database reports, historical research, and land title products to environmental consultants. Listed as a partner for HIG's database reports but also competes directly for the same Phase I ESA work.
• Sanborn Map Company: Sanborn is the original creator of fire insurance maps in the U.S. and still maintains/numerizes the Sanborn collection. Direct peer to HIG's fire insurance map and historical map products with overlapping library content and customer base (libraries, researchers, environmental professionals).
• Historic Aerials: Historic Aerials (by NETR) provides online viewer and download of USGS topographic maps and historical aerial photos. Direct peer on historical aerial imagery products serving property researchers and environmental consultants.

Broad incumbents

• Cotality (formerly CoreLogic): Cotality is a broad CRE and property data incumbent that has acquired multiple environmental data and historical research providers. Overlaps with HIG on environmental risk and property due diligence but operates at much larger scale across property analytics, valuations, and CRE workflow tools.
• Lightbox (Lightbox/dataspyre/Landmark): Lightbox is a CRE data platform consolidating environmental, property, and research data for transactions. Provides comparable environmental risk and historical information services to CRE professionals as part of a broader transactional data suite.

Emerging players

• EagleView: EagleView specializes in aerial imagery and property analytics — historical and current aerial capture, measurement, and GIS data. Comparable technology stack (aerial imagery + geospatial analytics) and serves adjacent insurance, government, and solar/property markets where HIG also plays.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HistoricalInfo1
• Facebookfacebook.com/HistoricalInformationGatherers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Historical Information Gatherers