Geographic Resources Program - Aerial Photography

Researching Historic Aerial Photography for National Parks and other areas.

Intent of site: The National Park Service (NPS) Intermountain Region Geographic Resources Program wanted to provide information on the aerial photography search process to parks/networks/programs as historic aerial photography has proven to be an important component to a park’s GIS database. The search for historic aerial photography has become considerably easier in the past few years as more and more databases become available on the internet.

Background: This web page and associated links are designed to help you find aerial photography for your geographic area of interest. This document is focused on the states in the NPS Intermountain Region. Many other states have online databases that can be found by performing an internet search on ‘historic aerial photography’. Another important consideration is how to use this data within a GIS and that involves having the photography scanned and rectified (either georectified or orthorectified). However, the concept of aerial photography rectification is not addressed here. Note that some of the links provided on the following pages also provide fee-based scanning and rectification services.

Sources: The most comprehensive sources of photography available here are through the United States Geological Survey EarthExplorer and through the United States Department of Agriculture Aerial Photography Field Office (USDA APFO) websites. Either one of these sites would be good places to begin your search. EarthExplorer has photography projects going back to the 1930’s and includes some projects by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). Depending on your area of interest, the USDA APFO site may have a more comprehensive listing of projects from the SCS or the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.

NPS Only: If you are a National Park Service employee with access to the intranet, do not overlook the NPS etic website for park specific projects. There is some historical aerial photography for parks (nationwide) available through the Denver Service Center’s Technical Information Center in Lakewood, CO that can be discovered on this intranet site.

September 24, 2007