How we built this
Scot-LAND is led by Laurie Moffat, an independent volunteer.
The map runs on the Scotland National Wealth Engine, which we are building step by step.
The research and checking are done by a team of specialist AI assistants. Each has one job:
- Engineering Lead: runs the building work, writes specs and reviews code.
- Wording & UX Reviewer: keeps every page clear and easy to use.
- Georgist Economist: keeps the work true to land value principles.
- Land Value Econometrician: models land values from sales and building costs, and tests how well the model fits.
- GIS & Open Data: finds public data, checks its licence and joins it to areas.
- Test Engineer: writes the automated tests that guard every change.
- Live Site Checker: tests the live site after every change.
- Outside Comms: drafts outside messages, which are only sent once a person approves them.
- Methods Auditor: checks each method is sound and written down before it is used.
- Property Tax & Land Law: checks the work against tax and land law.
- Visual Designer: looks after the look of the site and maps.
- Project Lead: plans the work and holds it to our rules.
These are AI assistants, not people, and they hold no professional qualifications. The code is written by Cursor, an AI coding tool.
How we keep it honest
- Every method is written down before we use it, checked, and published on How it works.
- Every dataset is public, and every source is credited on Data & sources.
- Every figure is an estimate, shown with a range and a label saying how reliable it is.
What we don't have yet
- No qualified valuer has reviewed our method.
- Values cover land as it is used today, not what planning might allow.
- No legal or data-protection review yet.
- No public-finance expert has reviewed our "Why land value?" page.
- Rural land is not valued yet.
- No independent review of our statistics.
Automated values need human checking before anyone relies on them.
Get involved
We would welcome volunteer reviewers:
- a RICS-registered valuer, to check how we value land
- a statistician, to test our model
- a planner, to advise on planning use
- a legal or data-protection reviewer
- a public-finance economist, to review our tax explainer
This is unpaid and voluntary.