Map Library
Links & Web Resources | Aerial Photographs
and Satellite Imagery
General Coverage | United States
| International | Vendors | Tutorials More info: Guide to Aerial Photography & Satellite Imagery from the Government Publications Library. Also see our Online GIS Resources web page for other links to digital aerial photoraphy and satellite imagery.
Collections at CU Boulder:
- Historical Aerial Photos of Colorado:
Viewing the Changing Landscape of Colorado
from the CU Boulder Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library. -
Glacier Photograph Collection
from the National Snow and Ice Data Center / World Data Center for Glaciology.
Indexes
- US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, GIS Data Library
This site includes indexes to Forest Service aerial photographs as .kmz files, which are viewable in Google Earth. Some of these photographs are available in the map library: contact the map library staff for more information.
General Coverage
- TerraServerUSA
A free, searchable database of USGS aerial photos (digital orthophotquads) and digital topographic maps (Digital Raster Graphics). - EarthExplorer
Search for satellite images, aerial photographs, and cartographic products produced by USGS. - Earth Resources Observation Systems
(EROS) Data Center
The USGS's EROS Data Center archives more than 8 million aerial photographs and handles data from several series of satellites. Use this site for a great overview of USGS data & links to data download and ordering sites. - Global Land Cover Facility Earth Science Data Interface
- Historic Aerials
Free online viewing with option to purchase imagery from 1930-present for various areas of the U.S.
MODIS, IUCN/UNEP World Database on Protected Areas, AVHRR, and Landsat data. - National
Archives & Records Administration (NARA)
NARA stores historical aerial photographs taken by federal agencies. In most cases, copies can be ordered. - NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation
Service)
Many NRCS state offices have historical aerial photograph collections. Click on "States and Regions" in the lower left. - Landsat 4/5 and 7 Downloads in MrSID format.
- Landsat 7 images by state. From EROS.
- Digital
Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon
Search by feature name, coordinate range, lat/long, or photo number. - USGS
Earthshots
The EROS Data Center of the U.S. Geological Survey offers before and after Landsat images showing environmental change. - Great Images in NASA
A collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes. - Fairchild Aerial Photography Collection at Whittier College. Strong coverage of California. Includes coverage of many states, plus international areas.
- Orthoimagery Resources: Sources of Free Orthoimagery
From NASA's World Wind wiki. - NASA's Planetary Photojournal
Search and view images of individual planets in our solar system. - Spaceborne Imaging
Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
SIR-C/X-SAR is a joint U.S.-German-Italian project that uses a highly sophisticated imaging radar to capture images of Earth. - USDA Aerial Photography Field
Office
The primary source of aerial imagery for the United States Department of Agriculture. Over 10,000,000 images from 1955 to the present. - USDA
National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP)
Ordering information. Some states are serving out coverage of their photography for free. We'll add to the list as we find them. Also available for download from the map library's GIS computer: see library catalog record. - Colorado compressed
county mosaics: generously served out by the USGS.
- The compression ratio is 15:1.
- The imagery is natural color, one meter GSD to NAIP specs.
- The files are less than 4GB
- The zip files are named by county
- These can take a while to download. Also available for use or download on the Map Library GIS computer. - USGS Fact Sheet: "Looking
for an Old Aerial Photograph"
Tips on searching for historical aerial photography. - USGS
PhotoFinder
National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP, 1987-present) & National High Altitude Photography (NHAP, 1980-1989) photography. - USGS Seamless Data Distribution
System
Download orthoimagery, satellite data, DEMs, and more. - USGS Global Visualization Viewer
View and order Landsat, ASTER, MODIS, and other satellite image data.
- Alabama: Air Photo Archive. From the Alabama Maps collection at the University of Alabama.
- Arizona:
ASU Libraries' Map Collection
Over 15,000 contemporary and historical aerial photos related to Arizona.
Arizona Regional Image Archive
Aerial photography and satellite imagery of Arizona. - California:
California Coastal Records Project
Over 34,557 photographs of the current California coast from the Oregon Border to the Mexican Border, except for the Vandenberg AFB restricted area. An additional 5833 images from 1972, 8000 images from 1979, 4173 images from 1987, and 1074 images from 1989 are now online.
Links to guides & collections of California aerial photography
from the Humbolt State University Library Atlas and Map Collection
List of institutions with aerial photographs of California, by county
University of California, Berkeley Earth Sciences and Map Library Aerial Photography Collection
Online catalog of aerial photo collection covering various areas in California. Some digital photos available.
- Colorado: Historical Aerial Photographs of Colorado: Online access to over 1,700 digitized aerial photographs taken from 1937-1946.
- Georgia: Aerial Photographs From the Digital Library of Georgia and GALILEO.
- Illinois: Illinois Historical Aerial Photography 1938-1941. Online access to historical photographs available from the Illinois Natural Resources Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.
- Louisiana:
Hurricane Katrina imagery:
GIS Resources for Hurricane Katrina
LAGIC: Louisiana Geographic Information Center
NOAA imagery
Google Maps Imagery
Hurricane Maps, Data & Help from ESRI.
- New Mexico:
University of New Mexico Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center
Historical aerial photographs of Albuquerque and other areas of New Mexico.
Earth Data Analysis Center at the University of New Mexico
Historical aerial photography of New Mexico from 1935 on. - Pennsylvania:
PennPilot
Historical aerial photography of Pennsylvania from 1937-1942. - Wisconsin:
WisconsinView
1-foot resolution aerial orthophotography of Madison (2007) , Kenosha
(2005), and Racine (2005), Wisconsin available for download.
International
-
Canada:
- University
of Calgary Library: Airphoto Collection
This collection is limited to Canadian airphotos and focuses on Southern Alberta particularly strong coverage of the Calgary area and the Kananaskis area. The site explains how to find photos in their collection--if you venture outside the US.
GeoGratis
Satellite imagery of Canada, available for download at no charge.
Australia: - National Archives of Australia
These National Archives contain more than documents - they are have photographs, posters, maps, and architectural drawings for Australia. Also, check out the genealogist services. - Western Europe:
The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives Keele Universitys collection of over five million World War II aerial reconnaissance photographs of Western Europe that have been deposited by The UK Ministry of Defence. AS OF APRIL 28, 2008, THE ARCHIVE IS BEING MOVED TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND. - Spain:
Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales de España (IDEE).
Maps and data portal for Spain.
Aerial Photography and Satellite Imagery Vendors
This short list provides a selection of links to some of the larger aerial photography or satellite imagery vendors or providers. Linking to these vendors implies no endorsement of these companies.
- Search
for an aerial photographer in your area
From the Professional Aerial Photographers’ Association International (PAPA) - Aerial Archives
- Colorado Aerial Photo
Service
Historic and current black-and-white aerial photo maps of Denver and many other Colorado towns and cities from 1948 to the present. - GeoCover
Landsat imagery and land cover data from EarthSat. - GeoEye
"GeoEye imagery products serve the growing national and international demand for highly-detailed imagery in applications such as mapping, national security, environmental monitoring, urban planning, resource management, homeland defense, commercial fishing and emergency preparedness." (OrbImage and Space Imaging are now GeoEye.) - National Aerial Resources
Current and historical aerial photography of the United States. - Spaceshots (Satellite Photos)
Spaceshots sells poster-sized, high-quality satellite images and panoramic aerial views of cities. Most of the images come from Landsat 4 and 5 satellites represented by EOSAT (Earth Observation Satellite Company), while other images come from foreign satellites like the French SPOT satellite. - Terra Image USA
SPOT satellite imagery vendor. - Tobin International
Current and historical aerial photography. - Western Air Maps
Aerial photography, orthophotography, and more. Located in Overland Park, Kansas.
- Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing
The Geographer's Craft - Geomophology from Space
"The core of this book is a gallery of space imagery consisting of 237 plates, each treating a geographic region where a particular landform theme is exemplified. Commentary, photographs, locator maps, and sometimes a geologic map accompany each plate." - Canada Centre for Remote Sensing tutorials
Good tutorials, including the Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, Radar Remote Sensing, an Image Interpretation Quiz, and more. - Remote Sensing Core Curriculum
A tutorial from the International Center for Remote Sensing Education, Inc.(ICRSEdu). - The Remote Sensing Tutorial
by Dr. Nicholas Short, NASA - USGS Fact Sheet: Looking for an Old Aerial Photograph
