GovBot.ai Request a private preview

In private preview

Answers from public data, with every source cited

GovBot.ai brings public, authoritative data together for people, software and AI assistants. Every answer cites its source; computed values show their inputs.

Film, 60 seconds: GovBot.ai and its first edition, shown in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
Read the narration
  1. Public data on floods, plans and buildings exists; using it takes experts, weeks and code.
  2. GovBot.ai puts that data in one place, and every answer cites its source.
  3. For people, software and AI assistants, in private preview.
  4. Most of this data exists only in public documents. We turn each page into checked, cited data.
  5. Each edition applies the platform to one area of public work.
  6. Its first edition starts with flood, across every county and 404,171 plan actions, and growing.
  7. It shows which buildings take water at four flood sizes, not only the mapped 1 in 100 year area.
  8. It starts from the county's plan, drafts the grant application, and every value opens its source page.
  9. Planned to be free for communities.
  10. GovBot.ai. Answers from public data, with sources.
hazard mitigation plan actions
404,171
flood-study cross sections
954,991
flood values from FEMA and local flood studies
8 million+
public-data tools, and growing
166

Held today, and growing. Counts as of 29 September 2026. Sources and more figures

Platform

From public sources to the ways people use them

GovBot.ai platform concept Four layers, read from the bottom: public, authoritative sources; the GovBot.ai data layer; editions; ways to use it. A full text description follows the diagram. 4 WAYS TO USE IT 3 EDITIONS 2 GOVBOT.AI DATA LAYER 1 PUBLIC, AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES Plans Flood studies Buildings Rivers and gauges Disasters Laws and rules Grants Local codes Data API Private preview MCP servers Private preview Emergency Management First edition · private preview Hazard Mitigation module · Flood Hazard Impacts In development Regulatory In development Grants In development Local Codes In development The app Mitigation Workbench Ask GovBot.ai Plain-language questions Your AI assistant Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · Grok Planned with the preview Your own apps and analyses Through the API and MCP GovBot.ai platform concept 4 WAYS TO USE IT The app Mitigation Workbench Ask GovBot.ai Plain-language questions Your AI assistant Claude · ChatGPT · Gemini · Grok Your own apps and analyses 3 EDITIONS Emergency Management First edition · private preview Hazard Mitigation module · Flood Hazard Impacts In development Regulatory In development Grants In development Local Codes In development 2 GOVBOT.AI DATA LAYER Data API Private preview MCP servers Private preview 1 PUBLIC, AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES Plans Flood studies Buildings Rivers and gauges Disasters Laws and rules Grants Local codes
Diagram as text
  1. 1. Public, authoritative sources: plans, flood studies, buildings, rivers and gauges, disasters, laws and rules, grants, local codes.
  2. 2. GovBot.ai data layer: the Data API and MCP servers, in private preview. Terms for developer access to the API and MCP servers will be announced with the preview.
  3. 3. Editions: Emergency Management, the first edition, in private preview, with its Hazard Mitigation module and flood as the first hazard; Hazard Impacts, Regulatory, Grants and Local Codes, in development.
  4. 4. Ways to use it: the app (Mitigation Workbench); Ask GovBot.ai; your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok, planned with the preview); your own apps and analyses.

Ask GovBot.ai

Question

How many buildings along Haw Creek in Columbus, Indiana, take water at the first floor in a 1 in 10 year flood?

19 of 574 buildings along the creek

The count compares the flood elevation at each building with the building's first-floor elevation.

Sources

  • FEMA Flood Insurance Study, Bartholomew County, 2023
  • National Structure Inventory
Example question and answer from Bartholomew County, Indiana.
  • Ask GovBot.aiQuestions in plain English, without an API, SQL or knowing where the data is held.Private preview
  • Data APIThe public sources and the values computed from them, each returned with its source.Private preview
  • MCP serversThe same data for AI tools that support the Model Context Protocol.Private preview

Connectors for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok · planned with the preview

Terms for developer access to the API and MCP servers will be announced with the preview.

Assistant names are the trademarks of their owners and are listed to show compatibility; no partnership or endorsement is implied.

From documents to data

Most of this data is published as documents, not as data

Most of this isn't available as data anywhere you can query. It sits in public documents: flood studies and hazard mitigation plans published as PDFs. We've spent years collecting them and turning each page into data that is checked, kept current, and cited to the exact page it came from.

  1. Digitized from the documentsValues are digitized from the flood-study profiles and plan pages.
  2. Checked against the pageEvery value is checked against its page.
  3. Kept current, cited to the pageValues are kept current, and each one cites the exact page it came from.
A flood-study profile page and a plan page, and the values taken from them, each with its Source.

Scope

Built to cover the country

Held today, and growing.

counties and county-equivalents
3,144
disaster declaration records
68,812
communities
42,528

Counts as of 29 September 2026. County count: U.S. Census Bureau; cross sections: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer.

Editions

One platform, editions for specific work

Emergency Management is the first edition, chosen because of the team's three decades in this field. Its first module is Hazard Mitigation, and its first hazard is flood.

First edition · private preview

Emergency Management

From a county's plan to funded projects: mitigation first, then preparedness, response and recovery.

  1. Hazard Mitigation · FloodFirst module · private preview
  2. Preparedness, response and recoveryPlanned

In development

Hazard Impacts

What floods and storms do to buildings, roads, lifelines and people, place by place.

In development

Regulatory

Traces a bill from introduction through rules to the programs and places it affects.

In development

Grants

Finds, qualifies for and assembles applications across federal and state programs.

In development

Local Codes

Compares and aligns local codes and ordinances.

Emergency Management › Hazard Mitigation › Flood

From a county's hazard mitigation plan to a grant-application draft

What it is

The Mitigation Workbench takes a county from an action in its adopted hazard mitigation plan to a grant-application draft for a physical project. Every value in the draft opens the public record it came from.

Why it exists

Flood maps show the 1 in 100 year flood area. A county also needs to know which buildings take water in frequent floods, and it needs a project that can be funded.

What it is built to cover

Every county and county-equivalent in the United States: the actions in each county's hazard mitigation plan, and the flood-study values along its studied streams.

What changes for a county

  1. Frequent floods at every building

    Flood maps show the 1 in 100 and 1 in 500 year areas; the 1 in 10 and 1 in 50 year floods are in the flood-study tables but not on the map. The builder states the water at each building's first floor for all four flood sizes.

  2. Starts from the county's adopted plan

    Every project is tied to an action in the county's hazard mitigation plan, with the plan page.

  3. A grant-application draft, not a blank form

    Most fields are filled from public records and the rest are listed for the applicant, with a worksheet laid out for FEMA's benefit-cost tool.

  4. Every value traceable

    Each figure opens the page of the public document it came from, for reviewers and auditors.

  5. The whole picture in one place

    Plan actions, flood studies, buildings, damage history, disaster declarations and today's river level, together.

  6. Built for communities without grant staff

    Planned to be free for communities.

For state and FEMA reviewers

Checked before it is submitted

The draft is checked against the program's published requirements and lists anything missing, so state and FEMA reviewers receive a complete application with every value cited, and fewer requests for more information.

Product tour

Sixteen screens of the working flood module in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Images only; some values are blurred.

Choose a place

Entry screen on a dark ground: the title “Flood actions in your county's hazard mitigation plan”, a dotted globe centred on North America, a search field and a button for Bartholomew County, Indiana.

The builder opens on a globe, where a person chooses a city or county.

  1. Search by city or county; Bartholomew County, Indiana is shown.
  2. Bartholomew County, Indiana.

Principles

  • Public, authoritative sources only. Built entirely on public data that exists today.
  • Every answer cites its source. Computed values show their inputs.
  • The app is planned to be free for communities. For counties and cities without grant staff.

Questions

Questions and answers

How is GovBot.ai different from America.gov?

America.gov helps people find federal services and information. GovBot.ai turns what is inside public documents, such as county hazard mitigation plans, flood studies and local codes, into data, with every value cited to its page, and serves it to the app, to Ask GovBot.ai and to other tools through the API and MCP servers. The two are complementary.

Is the app free?

The app is planned to be free for communities. Terms for developer access to the API and MCP servers will be announced with the preview.

Where does the data come from?

From public, authoritative sources only. Much of it sits in public documents, such as flood studies and hazard mitigation plans published as PDFs. Values are digitized from those documents, checked against the page, kept current, and cited to the exact page they came from. Computed values show their inputs.

Which places are covered today?

The private preview starts with Bartholomew County, Indiana. GovBot.ai is built for all 3,144 counties.

What does “checked before it is submitted” mean?

The draft is checked against the program's published requirements and lists anything missing, so state and FEMA reviewers receive a complete application with every value cited, and fewer requests for more information. It is not a FEMA determination; FEMA decides eligibility.

Private preview

Request a private preview

GovBot.ai, its data services and the flood module are in private preview. Each request is reviewed, and the reply comes by email.

For example, name@county.gov

For example, the county, stream or plan action you have in mind.

Ideation Lab, Corp. stores these details to reply to this request and does not sell or share them.