What MapCraft does

MapCraft, Inc. is a private software and consulting company founded in 2015 that builds tools to test the impact of proposed public policies and market conditions on urban real estate development. Headquartered in Oakland, California with a secondary office in Portland, Oregon, the company operates with 1-10 employees and serves government agencies, nonprofit housing and planning organizations, academic and research institutions, and private sector consultants across approximately 700 U.S. jurisdictions.

The company's core product is a cloud-based policy simulation platform that performs parcel-level financial feasibility analyses at scale. Users build analyses in Excel or Python, upload them to MapCraft, and receive both disaggregate and aggregate results mapped across study areas. The engine evaluates up to 1,000 building prototypes per parcel and, in a single policy simulation, can analyze more than a billion development options spanning entire states—including 2 million parcels in Colorado and 12 million parcels in California. The platform includes a collaborative permissions system, a live self-serve demo for inclusionary housing scenarios, and an API for running large-scale simulations programmatically. A complementary service arm, MapCraft Labs, delivers custom analyses and policy insights built in Excel or Python for clients needing tailored support.

MapCraft generates revenue through a mix of software platform subscriptions/usage fees and professional services for custom policy analysis. Sales are conducted primarily via direct enterprise engagement with government clients such as Sound Transit, Utah Transit Authority, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development; nonprofit clients such as SPUR and California YIMBY; and consulting firms such as ECOnorthwest and HNTB. Through 2025, the company had supported evaluation of more than 300 proposed land use policies, with 80% of evaluated legislation that reached elected votes subsequently adopted. The platform's analytical reach extends across approximately 700 jurisdictions home to nearly 20% of the U.S. population, and high-level policy evaluations have been completed for all 3,143 U.S. counties.

Name

MapCraft

Legal name

MapCraft, Inc.

Website

https://mapcraftlabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MapCraft is a cloud-based policy simulation platform that evaluates parcel-level real estate feasibility for proposed urban land use policies. It serves government agencies, nonprofits, and consultants, supporting analysis of over 300 policies covering 700 US jurisdictions through 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Policy Simulation Software

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Land & Rural Property Appraisal (BPAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Urban policy analytics
• Real estate feasibility
• Policy simulation software
• Parcel-level analysis
• Housing policy tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Software Platform Subscription/Usage: MapCraft provides access to their software application for running policy simulations. Users build analyses in Excel or Python, upload to MapCraft, and see results across study areas. API access available for running large simulations.
2. Custom Policy Analysis Services: MapCraft builds custom analyses and provides policy insights for clients. If users need help analyzing a policy, MapCraft builds custom analyses tailored to client needs.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

MapCraft builds a cloud-based web application (the MapCraft App) that lets policy analysts test how proposed urban and housing policies affect real estate development at parcel-level granularity across entire cities, regions, or states. Users build analyses in Excel or Python and upload them to MapCraft, which then runs simulations on every parcel in the study area—evaluating up to 1,000 building prototypes per parcel and mapping both disaggregate and aggregate results. MapCraft Labs provides complementary custom analysis and policy insight services, building bespoke Excel/Python models for clients such as Sound Transit, SPUR, California YIMBY, and the Utah Transit Authority.

Product overview

MapCraft offers a unified product platform centered on the MapCraft App, a cloud-based web application for urban policy analysis. The platform uses scalable cloud infrastructure to run parcel-level feasibility analyses across entire cities, regions, or states—enabling users to test policy scenarios, simulate development outcomes, and map results. MapCraft Labs provides complementary consulting services, building custom analyses in Excel or Python and offering policy insights. The core app and professional services work together to help government agencies, non-profits, and private businesses evaluate land use policies before adoption.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MapCraft App The MapCraft App is a cloud-based web application that enables policy analysts to test the impact of proposed policies on real estate development across cities, regions, or entire states. Users build analyses in Excel or Python, upload them to MapCraft, and see how results vary across the study area. The app runs analyses on every parcel in the study area and maps both disaggregate and aggregate results, evaluates up to 1,000 building prototypes per parcel, supports a sophisticated permissions system for collaborative work, and exposes an API for running large numbers of simulations programmatically. It is used by government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses engaged in urban planning and real estate development.
• MapCraft Labs MapCraft Labs is the consulting arm of MapCraft that provides custom analyses and policy insights for clients who need help analyzing a policy. MapCraft Labs builds bespoke analyses in Excel or Python tailored to each client's question, helping organizations understand how proposed policies would affect real estate feasibility, affordable housing, and transit investments. Services are delivered to government agencies (e.g., Sound Transit, Utah Transit Authority), nonprofit organizations (e.g., SPUR, California YIMBY), and private businesses/consultants.

Quantifiable outcome

• Evaluated more than 300 proposed land use policies across 700 jurisdictions covering nearly 20% of US population
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Terner LabsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMapCraft provides their app to Terner Labs for their Terner Housing Policy Simulator, which simulates policies' influence on future housing production. Terner's team developed the underlying pro forma calculator. MapCraft offers support to make the tool useful for Terner's in-house team, staff at select local jurisdictions, and external researchers. By end of 2025, Terner was evaluating housing policies in more than 20 jurisdictions across four US States.
• UCLA Lewis Center for the Regional EconomycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Terner Housing Policy Simulator, built on MapCraft's platform, is used by UCLA Lewis Center researchers for modeling inclusionary zoning's impact on housing production in Los Angeles.
• California YIMBYcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalifornia YIMBY commissioned MapCraft to study housing production rates across the state, analyzing conversion rates comparing historical permitting to potential market-feasible development opportunities.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Esri: Esri's ArcGIS platform is the dominant geospatial infrastructure used by government planners. It does not directly replicate MapCraft's policy simulation engine but enables competing in-house builds and is widely deployed across MapCraft's customer base.
• HNTB: HNTB is an infrastructure design and planning firm with a strong transit-oriented development and transportation planning practice. It is also displayed as a MapCraft customer and represents a major incumbent in station-area and corridor planning.
• HDR Inc: HDR is an engineering, architecture, and planning consultancy with significant transportation and urban development practices. It appears as a MapCraft customer logo and represents a large incumbent that could either partner or build competing tools.
• AECOM: AECOM is a global infrastructure consulting firm with substantial urban planning, transportation, and housing practices. It competes for many of the same public-sector planning contracts MapCraft targets and can build internal analytic capabilities.

Others

• ECONorthwest: ECONorthwest is an economics and planning consulting firm that is both a MapCraft customer (used it for Sound Transit's station area planning) and a competitor for policy/feasibility analysis consulting work in the Pacific Northwest.
• Terner Center for Housing Innovation: UC Berkeley's Terner Center is both a research partner and customer, hosting the Terner Housing Policy Simulator built on MapCraft's platform. It is a comparable institution shaping housing policy research and a flagship channel partner for MapCraft's distribution.

Direct peers

• UrbanFootprint: UrbanFootprint is a scenario planning SaaS platform for land use, transportation, and climate planning at city and regional scales. It is the most directly comparable product competitor to MapCraft, offering parcel-level analysis tools for public agencies.
• Replica: Replica provides data and analytics on how people move, live, and work in cities, used by planners and transportation agencies. It overlaps with MapCraft in serving urban planning and policy teams with data-driven decision support.
• Remix: Remix (now part of Via) provides transit planning software for agencies designing routes, analyzing mobility, and evaluating service changes. It is highly comparable to MapCraft's transit-oriented development analysis capabilities and shares government transit authority customers like Sound Transit.
• StreetLight Data: StreetLight Data offers mobility and transportation analytics derived from big data for planning agencies. It targets the same government/transportation planning buyers as MapCraft and competes for the same analytics budget allocations.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 MapCraft