GeoRAWS is designed for a wide range of audiences, the stakeholders at large, that is, people and organizations at risk of exposure to natural hazards. That includes the insurance and real estate industries, mortgage lenders, investors, governments, relief and emergency management organizations, city planners, property and business owners or managers, and of course the residents at large. The on-line documentation and user interface were designed for users with varying backgrounds in the fields of Seismology, Earthquake and Structural Engineering, Insurance, Loss Estimation and Risk Management. The Exposure Module analyzes the geographic distribution and variation of exposure in time. California's population and the building stock are used as sample portfolios representative of exposure to seismic risk.
Exposure is perspective-dependent.
To a homeowner, it is the immediate family and property. To a city planner, it is everything within city boundaries, etc. It identifies where the highest densities and fastest growth rates are by zip code, city, county and insurance territories. The building inventory refers to inflation-adjusted estimated building property values grouped by line of business or occupancy, i.e., homeowners, mobile homes, condominiums, residential, commercial, industrial and total. Residential refers the sum of the first three and total is the sum of all.