Reading Sinkhole Reports

The LOCATION^® Sinkhole service report provides information about the risk of catastrophic sinkhole events and other related earth movements, allowing underwriters to assess sinkhole risk on an address level in the state of Florida. Sinkhole reports provide two scores to assist in underwriting: The Sinkhole Score and the Area Score. The Sinkhole Score is an overall sinkhole risk score for the specific property weighed on a scale of 1 (lowest risk – no confirmed sinkholes within 10 miles) to 7 (highest risk – confirmed sinkhole at property). The Area Score alerts underwriters to high-risk areas by identifying the number of confirmed sinkholes and reported earth movements within one mile of the property.

The Sinkhole Report provides the following information:

Risk Address

The address used to match against the database.

Match Type

A code reflecting the geocoding precision of a risk’s placement. The following codes can be returned (listed in the order of positional accuracy):

Exact Address –This is an exact match: either the individual parcel or the corresponding street segment and address range can be found in the source files.
Street Level – This is a “close” match: the corresponding street – but not the specific address range – can be found in the street files.
PCR Level – This is an “approximate” match. The corresponding street cannot be found in the street files. LOCATION uses the centroid of the appropriate postal carrier route to assign data to the risk.
ZIP Code Level – The corresponding street cannot be found in the street files. LOCATION uses the centroid of the ZIP Code to assign data to the risk.

Sinkhole Risk

Describes the overall sinkhole hazard in the vicinity of the risk location. The Sinkhole Risk field is based on the Sinkhole Score.

Sinkhole Score

A numerical score, reflecting the overall sinkhole hazard in the vicinity of the risk property. The score is an integer from 1 (Negligible – no confirmed sinkhole within 10 miles) to 7 (Extreme – confirmed sinkhole at property).

Sinkhole Score	Sinkhole Risk	Sinkhole Proximity
1	Negligible	No confirmed sinkhole within 10 miles
2	Very Low	Confirmed sinkhole between 1 and 10 miles
3	Low	Reported earth movement within 1 mile
4	Moderate	Confirmed sinkhole between ½ of a mile and 1 mile
5	High	Confirmed sinkhole between 1/10^th of a mile and ½ of a mile
6	Very High	Confirmed sinkhole within 1/10^th of a mile
7	Extreme	Confirmed sinkhole at property

Sinkhole Proximity

Describes the distance between the property address and the closest known sinkhole or earth movement.

Area Risk

Describes the overall sinkhole hazard within one mile of the risk location. The Area Risk field is based on the Area Score.

Area Score

A numerical score reflecting the overall sinkhole hazard within a one mile radius of the risk property. The score is an integer from 1 (Negligible – no confirmed sinkholes and/or earth movements within 1 mile of the property) to 5 (Extreme – over 50 confirmed sinkholes and/or earth movements within one mile of the property).

Area Score	Area Risk	Number of Confirmed Sinkholes and Earth Movements Within One Mile
1	Negligible	0
2	Low	1 – 5
3	Moderate	6 – 20
4	High	21 – 50
5	Extreme	Over 50

Area Risk Description

Describes the number of confirmed sinkholes and/or earth movements within one mile of the property.