Most of what you need to assess a site is already somewhere in Searchland.
Getting to it can be the slow part.
Which layer holds it? Which filter? Which field actually answers the question you're asking?
For experienced users, that's muscle memory. For everyone else, it's time spent setting up a search before any thinking about the site has happened.
Introducing Ask AI
Ask AI is an assistant that sits alongside the map in Searchland. You ask a question in plain English. It finds the right data, runs the search, and shows the results on the map.
It works across every dataset in the platform - planning, titles and ownership, constraints, local plans, sales and lettings, and more — covering England, Scotland, and Wales.
And it doesn't stop at answers. Ask AI can switch map layers, move to an address, save searches as alerts, and build out your project boards for you.
AI site finding: what Ask AI can do
Find sites in plain English
Type what you're looking for the way you'd say it to a colleague. "Refused residential applications in Lambeth since 2024." "SHLAA sites over 5 hectares in Stratford-on-Avon." Ask AI works out the fields and filters, then applies the search to the map so you see every result in context.
It covers planning applications, Land Registry titles and company ownership, residential and commercial sales and lettings, SHLAA sites, local plan allocations, brownfield land, Article 4 directions, land values, schools, elderly care, and electricity network capacity.
Assess a site without leaving the map
Ask about the title you're looking at. Ask AI returns the owner, tenure, lease terms, last sale price, and the local MP, along with every planning constraint on or around the site - flood zones, green belt, conservation areas, listed buildings, and the rest.
Read the policy and the committee
Ask AI searches local plan policy text, so questions like "what's the affordable housing threshold here?" or "what are the parking standards?" get answered from the plan itself.
It also researches planning committees: how a committee decided, how councillors voted, what was said, and how approval rates compare across councils or political parties.
Understand an area
Ask for approval rate trends, average prices, or how many sites in a council area match your criteria. Ask AI can also chart census and demographic data for the area you're looking at.
Turn answers into action
A search can become a saved email alert. An application can be tracked. A list of titles can become cards on a project board - every result from a search, in one go. Ask AI can also move cards between columns or copy them to another board.
It works with what you're looking at
Ask AI knows what's on your map, so follow-up questions don't need the site explaining again. It won't change your search area or filters without asking first.
How land professionals use Ask AI
Developers use it to build a shortlist fast - describe the site size, location, and planning history you want, then send the results straight to a board.
Planning consultants use it to check how a committee has treated similar schemes, pull policy wording for a statement, and set alerts on applications they need to watch.
Renewables teams use it to screen for land near network capacity before committing time to a full appraisal.
Commercial property teams use it to check ownership, lease terms, and sales evidence on a title without switching between tools.
And for anyone new to Searchland, Ask AI is the quickest way to learn the platform. Ask it how to do something, and it'll show you.
Answers grounded in the data
Ask AI answers from Searchland's data - not general knowledge. Results show as cards linked to the underlying titles, applications, and committee pages, so you can check the source in a click.
If a field is blank, Ask AI tells you it isn't in the data. It doesn't fill the gap.
Ask AI and the Searchland MCP
Searchland now gives you two ways to work with AI.
Ask AI is built for people who work in the platform. It drives the map, works with title boundaries and constraint layers, and acts on your projects and boards.
The Searchland MCP connects Searchland data to your own AI assistant, starting with Claude. It's built for research and reporting alongside your other tools - documents, spreadsheets, and CRM - and is available as an add-on to a Searchland licence.
Working in Searchland? Use Ask AI. Working in Claude? Use the MCP.
Everything Ask AI can see
Ask AI is only as useful as the data behind it, and Searchland's has grown fast this year. Recent additions include Neighbourhood Plans, Planning Committees, Public Comments, Site Activity, Planning Enforcements, and Political Affiliations.
Try Ask AI
Ask AI is live in Searchland now.
Open the panel, and ask.
Not using Searchland yet? Start a trial and Ask AI is there from your first login.
