Emporis is Folding

[wwmiv]

In an email shortly after noon Denver time today:

Dear Emporis Community Member,


I am writing to let you know that we have made the decision to retire the Emporis community platform. This change will take effect on Tuesday 13th September 2022. Following the retirement you will no longer be able to access Emporis.

This decision was not made lightly. For more than twenty years, Emporis (and its predecessor site) has served as a platform for community members to share data, information and of course, great imagery of some of the tallest buildings and skyscrapers across the globe. I would like to thank you for your contributions over the years.

CoStar Group acquired Emporis in November 2020, recognising the truly global nature of the data in Emporis, and since the acquisition we have integrated much of that data into the global CoStar information platform for the benefit of our client base of brokers, owners, and lenders.

We know that many Emporis members share our passion for real estate – some of them as data enthusiasts; some as photographers; some as individuals who loved researching new cities and all of whom enjoyed contributing to an expanding real estate database.

CoStar is one of the largest commercial real estate information and analytics platform in the world and we are always seeking to hire new, talented individuals to help expand the platform into new markets and continue researching existing ones. If you are interested in any of our available roles within the Research group, please visit our careers website by clicking on the following link: https://www.costargroup.com/careers

In the meantime, should you have any questions or feedback, please contact our team at Emporis@CoStarGroup.com.

Once again, thank you for your contributions over the years and we wish you the best.

Matthew Green
CoStar Europe, Managing Director

[Crawford]

Ugh, they sold to CoStar? CoStar is the devil. Andy Florence, the head of CoStar, is one of the most difficult people I've met in business. Pompous, monopolistic jerk.

[chris08876]

They should make the data not cost so much to access. Emporis is a ripoff.

The CTBUH is no better but for less than $200 a year, you can have access to a ton of data. Although with the CTBUH, it use to be free!

Also back in the day, the interface for the CTBUH was a lot better, didn't crash as much and worked.

[C.]

Wow. Emporis / skyscrapers.com has seen better days. That makes SkyscraperPage one of the best free data sources out there.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by C.

Wow. Emporis / skyscrapers.com has seen better days. That makes SkyscraperPage one of the best free data sources out there.

If anyone wants to pull a massively illegal move and download all of their data before it shifts to bolster SSP’s database… that’d be interesting to see that lawsuit shake out. I am certainly not going to do it myself.

[Crawford]

CoStar will probably package Emporis with their other crappy products and charge you like 2k a year to view their bad data.

Anyone who has submitted info to Emporis is making Andy Florence (who grew up in ridiculous wealth) even wealthier.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by Crawford

CoStar will probably package Emporis with their other crappy products and charge you like 2k a year to view their bad data.

Anyone who has submitted info to Emporis is making Andy Florence (who grew up in ridiculous wealth) even wealthier.

Try about $9,000! I'm questioning whether it's worth it though I have it for now.

[KevinFromTexas]

When they changed the name from Skyscrapers.com to Emporis, that's when the site died for me and I stopped contributing. It sounds like an erectile dysfunction drug, which is funny if you think about it.

Also, the idea that you can patent data is a bit silly. 2+2 will always = 4.

[DetroitSky]

I'm honestly really pissed about this. I've spent a lot of time contributing to that site.

Interestingly, it was supposed to be inaccessible to 'community members' on September 13, but its currently 2:30AM local time on September 14 and its still up.

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

When they changed the name from Skyscrapers.com to Emporis, that's when the site died for me.....

You beat me to it. Skyscrapers.com is such a no-brainer, I'm pretty sure I originally found the site by typing that name directly. It took both amazing hubris and abject stupidity to think that the domain name didn't drive the traffic.

[Yuri]

I haven't gone there for like 15 years. Because of them, however, I joined SSC, SSP. They were the beginning of everything.

[muppet]

Emporis was always a bit off in stats - it only accepted data in English or German (it's founder language) and decided to refuse any submissions outside that. It went on for years stating that places like Shanghai had fewer highrises than say London.

[left of center]

Wow, that's sad news. I stopped visiting the site a little bit after it switched from skyscrapers.com to Emporis and a lot of the data started going behind a paywall. That said, it really helped young me learn about skyscrapers and fueled my now decades long interest in the subject.

Oh well, time marches on...

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah, i stopped having anything to do with it after the switch to emporis when some of the best data started going behind paywalls.

not that i was ever a big contributor or anything, but skyscrapers.com/emporis died a long time ago for me.

[WhipperSnapper]

End of an era. Skyscrapers.com is where this addiction started. High rise lists were a big part of the conversation back then. Those lists are still extremely popular however, the subject has been diluted to include how many red cars owned by billionaire CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are in every city.

[left of center]

Us forumers sure love lists

[JManc]

When they switched to 'Emporis' and became paywalled, that's when I stopped visiting. I submitted a few pics and was never credited for and they stuck a watermark insinuating that it was their original content.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by C.

Wow. Emporis / skyscrapers.com has seen better days. That makes SkyscraperPage one of the best free data sources out there.

yep. I was following Emporis and skyscrapers.com before there was a skyscraperpage.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

yep. I was following Emporis and skyscrapers.com before there was a skyscraperpage.

Actually, SkyscraperPage pre-dates Skyscrapers.com/Emporis. SkyscraperPage came about in 1997 while Emporis was started in 2000. I remember there being a conversation on the forum even before Emporis existed of forumers setting out to count their city's high rises to get a definitive record of how many each city had. For me, it wasn't about sizing up other cities or having bragging rights, but rather happening upon a novel idea about counting your city's buildings, and in the process, becoming more familiar with them and your city. I remember it being fun to track them down and it was educational and really got me hooked even more on the subject than I already was. I was into tall buildings even when I was a kid, and often wondered how tall they were. This was all before the internet and all you had to go by were books and magazines. Once the internet came along and these two sites I became a bit of a "height hound" where I enjoyed tracking down building heights.

[MayDay]

Delete