DirtFlight is not a drone photography service. To get aerial photos of land in California, enter the county and the APN, or draw the boundary on the map or upload a file. The pack renders in about ten minutes: an outlined top down, four cardinal 3D views, an 18 second orbit video, a hosted listing page and a parcel info sheet, with full resolution files of every view. Nobody flies out, so there is no travel charge, and it works anywhere in California. Dirt is $29 a parcel and Paydirt $79, or $199 a month for PayDirt Pro (20 Paydirt packs a month). Paydirt adds a contour map showing slope and access, the road frontage hero, the infrared land health view, the full social kit with platform captions, a posting plan and silent reels, pop-out photos from nine directions, the interactive 3D explorer and the measured diligence layers.
- Coverage
- All of California
- Turnaround
- About 10 minutes
- Travel charge
- None, ever
- Imagery age
- One to three years
Cheap land here is remote, and remote means unphotographed.
California vacant land is mostly not coastal. It is high desert in Kern and San Bernardino, sage and juniper in Modoc and Lassen, foothill oak in Tehama. These are the parcels that sell by mail, and the ones no pilot will drive four hours to shoot for a small commission.
Slope, fire access and whether a graded road actually reaches the line are the questions buyers ask, and the 3D views with the contour map answer them without a site visit.
Boundaries are approximate and are not a survey.
One parcel. Everything below.
One parcel, everything below. Juniper and sage, a graded road along the north line, and a ridge climbing off the back.
Everything in the pack
This is the whole California delivery.
Every view below came back from one parcel, in about ten minutes, with no pilot and no site visit.
Where California land actually trades.
These are the counties land buyers ask about most.
Any California county works: type the parcel number, draw the boundary on the map, or upload a KML, KMZ, GeoJSON or zipped shapefile. Try your APN free, and if a parcel will not come up from its number you hear that before anything is charged.
What to know before you order a California parcel.
- Coverage
- Any California county works: type the APN, draw the boundary on the map or upload a file. See coverage.
- Common land
- Foothill and mountain acreage, desert parcels, oak woodland and ranch land, timber in the north, and Central Valley farmland.
- Typical uses
- Rural homesites, recreational and desert land, ranch and timber tracts, and farmland.
- Reads well from above
- Slope and aspect, access roads and their grade, oak and brush cover, washes in the desert, and where one lot sits inside a larger split-up tract.
- Your parcel number
- The number to look for is the APN on the county record.
- Boundary and imagery
- The boundary is approximate and is not a survey. Imagery is the most recent aerial available for that county, usually one to three years old.
Rules for splitting a California tract differ by county, so start with the county planning office. How to subdivide land walks through the steps, subdivide land photos renders a pack for every lot from a plat or a drawn split, and land home packages screens where a home can go on a lot.
Also: drone photography vs DirtFlight · what land aerial photography costs · land listing photos checklist
Asked by people selling California ground.
Which California counties can you do?
Any California county works. Send the county and the APN and DirtFlight renders the pack. If a parcel will not come up from its number, you hear that before anything is charged, and you can draw the boundary on the map or upload a KML, KMZ, GeoJSON or zipped shapefile instead. The pack comes back the same.
Which California parcels get packs, foothill, desert or ranch?
Foothill and mountain acreage, desert parcels, oak woodland and ranch land, timber in the north, and Central Valley farmland. Typical uses there: rural homesites, recreational and desert land, ranch and timber tracts, and farmland.
Does the imagery show slope and access on foothill or desert parcels?
Yes. The four 3D views show the climb the way a buyer would see it walking in, and the contour map puts numbers on it. Graded road, two track and the point where the road stops all read in the access view.
Can you outline one lot in a subdivided desert tract?
Yes. Where hundreds of identical lots sit side by side, an outlined boundary is the only thing that tells one from another, and the context map shows what is actually built around it.
What is an APN, and where do I find one for a California parcel?
In California, the number to look for is the APN on the county record. Enter the county and the APN as it appears on the tax record, or a street address, and DirtFlight draws the boundary. If a parcel will not come up from its number, you are told before anything is charged, and you can draw the boundary on the map or upload a boundary file instead.
What shows from above on California foothill and desert land?
Slope and aspect, access roads and their grade, oak and brush cover, washes in the desert, and where one lot sits inside a larger split-up tract. The boundary is drawn on every view, and the imagery is the most recent aerial available for that county, usually one to three years old, with the date on the pack.
List your California parcel today.
Send the county and the APN, or draw the boundary on the map or upload a file. Free for a limited time.