Older aerial photos are almost a necessary part of the investigative process of land surveying. Sometimes they offer mere clues as to land usage and conveyances. Sometimes they can provide the "smoking gun" scintilla of evidence we need to corroborate our theories from found evidence.
I've been using this website lately. And although the site's ultimate goal is to sell the images, there's a great deal of viewing that can be performed free of charge. There's even a "compare" function with which one can overlay images.
Pretty cool stuff for this old bird. I remember when all we had was quad sheets.
> I've been using this website lately. And although the site's ultimate goal is to sell the images, there's a great deal of viewing that can be performed free of charge. There's even a "compare" function with which one can overlay images.
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> Historic Aerial Imagery
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> Pretty cool stuff for this old bird. I remember when all we had was quad sheets.
I trust you know also that the USGS website serves up historical aerials, and for free, too. You have to georeference them yourself, but they're available for free download.
> I trust you know also that the USGS website serves up historical aerials, and for free, too. You have to georeference them yourself, but they're available for free download.
Yes, but I haven't been real happy with the hoop jumping on the USGS website. I was particularly fascinated with the slide comparison on the site I posted. Just someplace new.
> > I trust you know also that the USGS website serves up historical aerials, and for free, too. You have to georeference them yourself, but they're available for free download.
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> Yes, but I haven't been real happy with the hoop jumping on the USGS website. I was particularly fascinated with the slide comparison on the site I posted. Just someplace new.
I agree with you that it's nice to compare the images from the different years as painlessly as can be done. I was thinking that if one wanted to use historical aerial imagery as evidence, a commercial site might not be the best choice.
In Texas, a division of the Department of Texas Water Development Board, TNRIS, has an archive of copies of a considerable number of historical aerials, certified copies of which are by law admissible in evidence in any court in Texas without further authentication.
