Eagan police could hear the man destroying the interior of his ex-wife's house, where he had holed up in a standoff. The officers planning a tactical response went online to zoom in for a 360-degree view of the house and neighborhood.

Using aerial photos with overhead and side-angle views, the officers rotated the pictures as if they were circling the house from the air. Using special software, they measured, for example, how far they'd have to rush through open areas that left them vulnerable to gunfire as they approached the house.

And later, at Burnsville City Hall, council members peered at aerial images of a parcel where a former publishing house was to become a church. That took out the guesswork of what was on the property, thanks to the three-dimensional "birds-eye" view by Pictometry International.

The technology is being used by a growing number of counties and cities looking to save time and money. Assessors, for example, can view properties without ever leaving their desks.

"Before the technology came into play, appraisers would have gone out and knocked on these doors. Now we can inspect those properties from the desktop," said Bill Peterson, Dakota County's tax assessor.

Pictometry, which is based in Rochester, N.Y., uses low-flying planes to take aerial photos with 40-degree side angles.

With multiple perspectives, the oblique shots give much more detail than satellite photography. At least one other U.S. company, MultiVision USA, also offers the technology.

Emergency responders, local planners and inspectors use the photos and software to measure not only height, width and distances but also elevation and bearings. Fire officials, for instance, can spot a building's exits, or measure distance to a pond to determine how much hose they'll need for a brush fire.

"It provides high-resolution imagery that can be easily interpreted by lay people," said Randy Knippel, head of Dakota County's Office of Geographic Systems (GSI). "It's definitely proven itself."

Costs shared

In 2005, Dakota County began evaluating the product and forming a cost-sharing partnership with 11 cities. And this year, several counties -- including Hennepin, Anoka, Scott, Carver and others outstate -- have signed up for the service, as have the cities of St. Cloud and Ramsey.

Dakota County and the 11 cities spent $155,000 on a contract for 2006-07 for the software and photos taken in 2006. The contract allows them perpetual access to the photos from 2006. A new license for this year and next covers the software and images shot last spring for $137,000.

The purchase is paying for itself by saving local governments time and money.

"In these times when we're all challenged with doing more with less, this certainly helps us to meet the workload," said Peterson, adding that Pictometry is saving his office $30,000 a year.

His two dozen appraisers turn to their computers to inspect buildings, decks, gullies and more before heading to the field for fewer in-person inspections.

Assessors can look for changes, too, in the county's 135,000 residential and commercial properties by comparing photos taken in 2006 and this year.

"We've got an image of every square inch of the county; we can look at any property," Peterson said.

Each year for reevaluations, Dakota County appraisers must look at 20,000 to 25,000 residential properties. They used to do them all physically; they're going online now for some of them.

"The parcels that we appraise using the Pictometry are properties that aren't likely to need an interior inspection. Roughly, last year we did about 5,000 of them" with Pictometry, Peterson said.

Privacy ensured

South metro officials are quick to dispel concerns that Pictometry is like "Big Brother" watching.

"I'm not aware of any examples of this technology being used in this way," Knippel said. "It's really a way of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government processes. And we know there are other benefits of the public having access to this, mostly related to real-estate transactions."

Knippel and others said the same oblique photographs are posted by Microsoft, but are only available where counties have used Pictometry, which in turn sold the imagery to Microsoft. Google, in contrast, has aerial photos without side angles and its "Street View" feature with photos shot from street level.

But Pictometry offers software that lets local officials measure heights and do more.

Dakota County is sensitive to privacy issues and does not provide the capability for searches by owners' names, but only by addresses and property identification numbers, Knippel added. He's heard from one concerned citizen over the past five years about Pictometry.

On Dakota County's website, which uses Pictometry and other data, anyone can pull up a parcel and view photos with more detail than ever by clicking on a map or on each property.

The county also has a new interactive GIS (geographic information systems) map website that allows access to multiple years of aerial photography through a link to Microsoft's Birds-Eye images, which uses the Pictometry oblique photos.

The county and cities are using the tool as a reference, but Knippel and Jim Skelly, a spokesman for the city of Burnsville, said they are unaware of it being used by any officials to hunt for ordinance violators.

"It helps speed up decisions," Skelly said, "and helps improve collaboration for making those decisions."

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017