Joe DownsCEO & Co-Founder, Belrose Storage Group. Founder, Storage Moguls.

Evaluate Site Access Before You Ever Visit

4 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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Check a site's access before you visit using Google Street View and satellite imagery. Walk the entrance virtually from both directions to spot visibility and signage issues, then measure the staging area with Google Maps' built-in tool. Five minutes of remote scouting saves time on site.

Chapters

You can do a meaningful access evaluation before you ever schedule a visit with the owner, and here's the sequence. Start with Google Street View. Put yourself at the entrance and simulate the approach from both directions. Is the turn clearly visible from a quarter of a mile away? Is there room to slow down? Is the entrance well marked? This takes 5 minutes and tells you a lot. Satellite view for the staging area, it's a great tool. You can often estimate the depth of the staging area right from the sat— You can actually measure using a Google Maps— there's a tool in Google Maps you can measure it right there. It's a very simple and easy tool to use.