The Gap Between Federal Flood Maps and Real Risk

The Gap Between Federal Flood Maps and Real Risk

From Disaster Zone by The Readiness Lab

June 10, 2026 · 52 min · Season 6 · Episode 18

About this episode

The episode discusses the discrepancies between federal flood maps and actual flood risks, featuring insights from David Tobias.

Flooding continues to be the number on hazard when it comes to disasters. Knowing what area is subject to flooding before a flood, the extent of what that flood impact might be, and then knowing the status of an ongoing flood is critically important. This is the subject of this podcast. David Tobias the podcast guest serves as the Chief Product Officer at Nearmap Previously, he co-founded Betterview, the leading Property Intelligence Platform for property and casualty insurers, which was acquired by Nearmap in December 2023. David plays a pivotal role in driving the market strategy for Nearmap, enabling users to effectively identify and mitigate risk, enhance operational efficiency, and build a more transparent customer experience. Before founding Betterview, David was instrumental in scaling Research Specialist Incorporated, an insurance loss control company. Under his leadership, the company expanded to conduct over 30,000 inspections annually with a network of more than 500 inspectors across the United States. Research Specialist Incorporated was later acquired by Alpine Intel. A veteran of the insurance and property intelligence industry, Tobias is focused on finding…

People in this episode

Guest: David Tobias

Topics covered

  • flood risk
  • geospatial challenges
  • insurance
  • property intelligence
  • disaster preparedness

Keywords

  • flooding
  • risk assessment
  • property insurance
  • geospatial data
  • disaster management

Sponsors

L3Harris Technologies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nearmap, Betterview, Research Specialist Incorporated, Alpine Intel

Products: BeOn PPT App

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