USGS Earth Explorer: my personal time machine

[keird]

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

Make a grid on the map

Select tab> Data sets> Aerial Imagery> Aerial Photo Single Frame

or whatever.

I can go back to 1938 with pretty good clarity.

 

[olds]

Uh, how do you make a grid?

 

[keird]

Uh, how do you make a grid?

I misspoke. Make a quadrangle with selected coordinates (click 4 times on the map)

 

[Crono]

Whoa, that is pretty cool. Didn't realize they have archives of aerial imagery going back decades.

 

[Zorba]

Which data set do you use?

 

[keird]

Which data set do you use?

The 1:24,000 scaled images have the best resolution. Select the footprint icon to see an image's footprint on the map browser. The image icon will overlay the photo over the map (kinda like a thumbnail to preview it for any major terrain features). After you register with USGS, you can select the download icon for high-res images of your photo (~110 Mb).

 

[lxskllr]

Will check it out later when I'm on a desktop. I love maps, and historic ground images. One thing I've had in mind to do is taking a road trip to follow a historic road(for instance US1) on the most original alignment possible. Drive every spur, dead end, and loopback to see what there is to see. I like picking out the old commercial buildings(general stores, hotels, shops...) that are now houses. You can see some of the original road alignments by looking at power poles. When they diverge from the road, it usually indicates a realignment, and many times you can still make out the old bed.

 

[ElFenix]

i tried to get this thing to work last week and still have no idea what i'm doing. only thing i seem to be able to pull up is some area southwest of detroit. someone write the instructions out for an idiot

 

[keird]

Alright.

Select tab> Data sets> Aerial Imagery> Aerial Photo Single Frame

Find a famous stadium on the map browser and make a box around it. Then press the results button.

A number of images should show up with data about when they were taken and what scale they are. Hit 'next' to find something older as they're ordered by date. The little footprint icon on each photo thumbnail corresponds it's the colored shadow on the map.

I'd link Fenway Park from 1938 but it's 80.1 MB and I can't post the .tif. Maybe someone else can link a high resolution image. (Please don't embed the image)

edit: it occurred to me that if you boxed in an entire region, there wouldn't be a single, large aerial photo that contained your selection. Try a smaller area, like a building or stadium.