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An aerial photo site for history buffs

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  • Member since
    October 2005
  • From: Central Texas
  • 365 posts
Posted by MJ4562 on Sunday, March 24, 2019 11:12 AM

I am looking at buying some images off of Historic Aerials and I'm not sure what to order for gathering prototype information. They offer three different pixel sizes and three different file types: 

1800 3600 7200

JPG ; PNG; GeoTiff

JPG and PNG are $10 ; $30 ; $90 for the various sizes and Tiff files double that.

What are the tradeoffs of these files and sizes?  I know pixel size generally means better resolution as they increase but does it matter that much on an overhead shot?  Anyone actually tried difference resolutions or file sizes?

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Saturday, January 26, 2019 11:28 AM

I'll have to check Historic Aerials out, never looked at before.

Mike.

  • Member since
    May 2017
  • 382 posts
Posted by xboxtravis7992 on Saturday, January 26, 2019 9:33 AM

My main gripe with Historic Aerials is their 'pay-to-see watermark free' maps buisness model. If Google ever decided to include a 'historic images' function into Google Maps it would kill Historic Aerials in a heartbeat. 

But despite the watermarks... I have to be honest in saying I do use Historic Aerials a lot. They have a pretty good coverage, and I have been able to use it in conjunction with other resources to pinpoint certain changes in my local railroad history (for example, Historic Aerials confirms the construction of a train station on the Western Pacific Warner Branch during WWII to serve the local army base). 

  • Member since
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  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Friday, January 25, 2019 9:56 PM

Colorado Ray
Interesting site, but I take umbrage at the term "vintage" for photos from the '80s and '90s, lol.

I understand.  They do have some from the 50's, quite a few, as when my granddad's farm was done.  I remember when he got the picture.  At that time, as a kid of about 7, ( which was 1956) it was the coolest picture I had ever seen of the farm.

Later on they added photos from the 80's, but all of the first series was in the 50's and 60's.

They had commercial artist "colorize" the main picture, which was one of their selling points.  It just looked neat to me.

Just thought I'd mention the site.

Mike.

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 427 posts
Posted by Colorado Ray on Friday, January 25, 2019 9:41 PM

CGW121

I have used Historic Aerials a lot,Vintage not nearly as much. Historic Aerials has topo maps which is handy for track planning.

 

i too have used historic aerials for research for a number of years.  Truly a great site with many mid-century dates.  But I see potential in vintage aerials as well.  I was looking at flights along the Alexander County Rairoad, and they had some great shots of railside industries and businesses.  Those 3D views could come in handy for modeling structures that may no longer exist.

Ray

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 427 posts
Posted by Colorado Ray on Friday, January 25, 2019 9:32 PM

mbinsewi

I'll have to check Historic Aerials out.  The site I was talking about is called Vintage Aerials.

Mike.

 

Interesting site, but I take umbrage at the term "vintage" for photos from the '80s and '90s, lol.  

i was disappointed that they had 7 rolls of film from all around our farm, but not a single flight included our farm.

Ray

  • Member since
    April 2011
  • From: About 20 minutes from IRM
  • 430 posts
Posted by CGW121 on Friday, January 25, 2019 9:44 AM

I have used Historic Aerials a lot,Vintage not nearly as much. Historic Aerials has topo maps which is handy for track planning.

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Friday, January 25, 2019 8:50 AM

I'll have to check Historic Aerials out.  The site I was talking about is called Vintage Aerials.

Mike.

  • Member since
    October 2005
  • From: Central Texas
  • 365 posts
Posted by MJ4562 on Friday, January 25, 2019 8:46 AM

CGW121

Historic Aerials is a good site.

 

 

Yes, it's a great resource for modelers.  I've followed them from their early days and remember they commented that model railroaders and railfans were a big part of their customer base which surprised them.  

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Omaha, NE
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Posted by dehusman on Friday, January 25, 2019 8:45 AM

The Historic Aerial site has both aerial photos and topo maps of many parts of the country.  Its one of my go to sites for preliminary research.

https://www.historicaerials.com/

Also the Hagely Museum and Library has the Dallin Aerial Survey Co. archives digitized.  They did mostly industrial customers, mostly on the East Coast.

https://digital.hagley.org/islandora/search/dallin%20aerial?type=edismax&

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by CGW121 on Friday, January 25, 2019 8:41 AM

Historic Aerials is a good site.

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
An aerial photo site for history buffs
Posted by mbinsewi on Friday, January 25, 2019 7:56 AM

Now I'm not promoting anything, I'm not affiliated with, member of, or tied to it in any way other than a casual looker, and I won't link the address, as I don't want Vinnie starting off a Friday in a bad mood, but there is kind of a cool web site out there that offers a zillion photos, from all over the country, from the 50's on.

Their main selling point was aerial farm pictures.  They would buzz around different parts of the country, taking pictures of farms and residences, and then a salesman would show up at your door with samples, some of then rendered in color, and try and sell you an aerial picture of your farm or home.

They also did small towns, and rural communities.  For any history buffs out there, they are worth a look.  You can look at a small print of everything they, loaded with water marks, but still cool.

Just search for a site that might offer something like, uhmmm...vintage aerial.

Mike.

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