K2: Oral Presentation C Thursday, 4:00 – 4:30 pm C Gooseberry Falls Room

Scanning Historic Air Photos – A Tale of Many Pictures

Timothy N. Loesch
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Road
PO Box 11
St. Paul, MN  55155
tim.loesch@dnr.state.mn.us

Digital air photos have proven to be a valuable piece of information for resource managers to get a visual picture of the landscape. In many cases the availability of digital aerial photography has spurred the use of GIS by people who otherwise had not used the technology. 

Many people are familiar with the Digital Orthophoto Quads or DOQs that were taken in the early 1990's have been available for Minnesota for 10 years.

There is also a vast resource of historical air photos that are archived at the DNR, county Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the U of M Map Library. The DNR is currently undergoing a project that seeks to scan, archive, and make available many years of historic photography.

This presentation will give an overview of the scanning process and discuss the variety of methods used to access the imagery.