Really High Resolution Aerial Photos

[+parkrrrr]

While I was poking around on the USGS site looking for elevation data in a usable format, I came across the "Seamless National Map Viewer" application. And while I was poking around in that, I found something that may be of use to some of y'all: really high resolution (1 pixel = 1 foot) aerial photos of select metropolitan areas. You can also overlay a lot of other useful data layers, including roads and water features.

 

Their news page currently contains a list of the metro areas for which imagery is available.

 

I downloaded the GEOTIFF version of this imagery for about a square mile around my house and enhanced the color a little. (I don't recommend doing so; I ended up downloading about 240 megabytes of uncompressed imagery for just that small area. Dialup users beware.)

 

This is what a piece of my neighborhood looks like on Terraserver:

 

 

And this is what the same area looks like with this new data product (with the color enhanced a bit - I cranked up the saturation by 50%):

 

[Captain Chaoss]

What a surprise, the satellites seem unable to penetrate the flannel curtain surrounding PA.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

Wow now you can't even pee in the backyard without fear of someone taking your picture

[+Halden]

That is really neat. Great resolution on those pictures. I wonder if Canada has anything equivalent? I have never found any aerial pics of Canada that precise.

[magellan315]

this could make an interesting twist on web cam caches. Sattelite cam caches

[+parkrrrr]

Just to be clear, these are not satellite photos. These are digitally orthorectified aerial photos, taken from airplanes.

 

I suspect the choice of cities that's available reflects the cities that have their own aerial photography programs in place; I know that Fort Wayne and Allen County were working on a comprehensive county-wide GIS as long as 10 years ago, for example, so the cost of acquisition was minimal for USGS. That would explain, too, why there are licensing issues with some of the California data.

[+Q2XL]

If you live in a rural area, a lot of Forestry/Land Departments have air photos that can be looked at and/or purchased.

[SLCDave]

Wow now you can't even pee in the backyard without fear of someone taking your picture

Looks like you'll be ok as long as there are no planes overhead at the time...

[+SeventhSon]

Terrafly allows you to pick your starting point and "fly around" a bit.

 

7

[dsandbro]

Just to be clear, these are not satellite photos. These are digitally orthorectified aerial photos, taken from airplanes.

A little further explanation, oversimplified...

 

Aerial photos have distortion and are not a constant scale because the edges of the photo scene are a lot further away from the lens than the center. (This is desirable because with two adjacent photos overlapping the same area, when viewed through a stereoscopic viewer, you can measure slope, height of objects, pick out details not visible on a single photo, etc).

 

Orthorectified photos are digitally broken down into smaller pieces (one square foot in this case) and digitally 'tweaked' to remove the distortion. The resulting rectified photo has no distortion and is like a map.

[+The Weasel]

Terrafly allows you to pick your starting point and "fly around" a bit.

 

7

This is really cool!!!

[Dru Morgan]

Fuzzy, what is all that green stuff surrounding the houses? In Los Angeles we don't have such stuff. I looked at the map around my house and there are just other houses next to it.

 

Seriously, though, with all that space around the houses, why do some people erect a little fence around their back yard. I would think you would want all that space to run around back there and not limit yourself.

[+Stunod]

Seriously, though, with all that space around the houses, why do some people erect a little fence around their back yard. I would think you would want all that space to run around back there and not limit yourself.

Maybe it's to keep all those people who like to run around in open green spaces out of your backyard!

[+parkrrrr]

Seriously, though, with all that space around the houses, why do some people erect a little fence around their back yard. I would think you would want all that space to run around back there and not limit yourself.

The house on the southwest corner of that T intersection there is mine. Notice how much greener it is inside the fence than outside?

 

Did I mention that I have dogs?

 

Other things you can see in this picture that surprised me:

• The oil spot in the driveway where I used to park my '88 Tempo, which leaked a little.
  
• The shadow of my trash can (this picture must have been taken on a Wednesday.)
  
• The shadow of the street sign on the corner (which is approximately a 6x6 wooden post.)
  

Edited January 15, 2004 by parkrrrr

[Fire Eater]

Are these images available in Canada? Specifically Ontario?

[+joefrog]

Whoa, is that your friend's car in front of your house???

 

[+geospotter]

You might want to raise your mower blade a tad.

[+parkrrrr]

You might want to raise your mower blade a tad.

Nah. I just started paying someone to mow for me. More time for geocaching.

[+parkrrrr]

Are these images available in Canada? Specifically Ontario?

Not these, no. The US in USGS stands for, well, "US."

[+geoguyver]

Would it be ok to mow messages to pilots in your lawn?

[ju66l3r]

These are also the photo sets that recently created a stir with political circles. The DC photos have been digitally modified to remove detail from the roofs of the White House, Capital building, etc. Certain items were fuzzed out digitally so that they are harder to recognize from their real life counterparts in the air.

 

Umm....there's a link around here somewhere....ah, there it is.

[+parkrrrr]

Would it be ok to mow messages to pilots in your lawn?

Fine by me. That's my neighbor's lawn.

[+geoguyver]

Would it be ok to mow messages to pilots in your lawn?

Fine by me. That's my neighbor's lawn.

Yeah, he would mow that kind of stuff, wouldn't he... that silly neighbor!

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Hmmm...does that trail at the top of the pic lead to a geocache?

[+geoguyver]

Hmmm...does that trail at the top of the pic lead to a geocache?

Oh! I thought that was where they hid the bodies...

[+parkrrrr]

Hmmm...does that trail at the top of the pic lead to a geocache?

Not yet, though there used to be a multicache in this neighborhood that led people along similar trails in a more scenic area. (That trail, or sidewalk, or whatever you want to call it, leads between the two drainage ponds and to another street. Not a lot of cache-hiding opportunities there.)

[+Markwell]

Would it be ok to mow messages to pilots in your lawn?

You laugh, but I did just that. Last summer a private pilot buddy of mine took me and my son on a flight over our house. Knowing that we'd be going as close as legally possible, I reverse mowed my son's name (Drew) into the lawn - in other words mowed the grass everywhere EXCEPT for the letters.

 

I saw it from the plane, but unfortunately, my son was too low in the seat to see anything well outside the cockpit. Next time around he'll be sitting co-pilot to be able to see better.

[+TheGertridgeExplorers]

Are these images available in Canada?  Specifically Ontario?

This company sells digital aerial photography & digital ontario Base Map data. The City of Hamilton has some good aerial imagery on their website too. There is IKONOS imagery for Ontario, but it is very expensive.

 

Donna G

 

PS - If you live near the US border there may be data available because of the need for sidelap.

Edited January 15, 2004 by TheGertridgeExplorers

[+wildearth2001]

i can't find the site to link it but i recently found a site that alows you to, for a rather hmlargehm Nominal fee, to request a sat flyover and sat photo of your house. they will schedual their sat to fly over you place at its next available oppourtunity and take a photo (I think they also tell you approx what time and date). They have 5m and 1m resoulution photos

[+parkrrrr]

Probably these guys.

[+GOT GPS?]

Would it be ok to mow messages to pilots in your lawn?

You laugh, but I did just that. Last summer a private pilot buddy of mine took me and my son on a flight over our house. Knowing that we'd be going as close as legally possible, I reverse mowed my son's name (Drew) into the lawn - in other words mowed the grass everywhere EXCEPT for the letters.

 

I saw it from the plane, but unfortunately, my son was too low in the seat to see anything well outside the cockpit. Next time around he'll be sitting co-pilot to be able to see better.

Reverse Mowed?

Wouldn't that make the grass taller, where you are mowing??

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

This makes sense. Tucson, AZ is listed in the 0.3m section, but not Phoenix. Go figure.