Pima County Geographic Information Systems

Getting Orthophotos and Aerial Imagery

Overview

• Orthophoto Imagery is aerial photography that has been processed to be spatially accurate. You can measure distances on orthophotos.
• Aerial photos that are not orthophotos are not spatially accurate. They are just pictures (and sometimes very good ones) that are generally taken from airplanes. Generally, they cannot be overlaid successfully with GIS map data.

We display a great deal of aerial imagery on our web site, particularly with our MapGuide Maps and Pictometry Aerial Photos. Except for individual Pictometry photos that can be downloaded with the Pictometry Viewer on our web site, we do not provide orthophotos or other aerial imagery in digital file format to the public. Imagery files are not available for download from our web site or our GIS Data FTP Server. We get most imagery from other sources and don't have the rights to distribute the digital files. However you can read about the imagery we have and our sources on our web site and then contact the source to see if you can acquire the imagery from that agency. See GIS Library Imagery for information on the orthophotos we have and their sources.

Those working on county or other government projects should contact to determine imagery availability.

Getting Orthophoto Imagery

• Depending upon your needs, you may be able to capture suitable orthophoto images from the screen while viewing our MapGuide Maps. When you capture imagery from the screen, you lose both the spatial reference of the data as well as the exact scale. To learn more about capturing imagery from the screen, see Capturing Your MapGuide View and also the section just before that, Optimizing Orthophotos, Imagery and Map Details .

• Individual Pictometry Orthophoto Sector photos can be downloaded in .JPG format. See the "Pictometry Project 4 Inch Ortho Sectors Map" and map instructions on the Pictometry Aerial Photos page (scroll down...).

• The Pima Association of Governments (PAG) and a number of local government jurisdictions participate in the Regional Orthophoto Projects. The project has produced high quality digital orthophotos and data covering various areas of eastern Pima County. To order these images see PAG Image and Data Ordering.

• Other sources for orthophoto imagery include:
  • ARIA - Arizona Regional Image Archive
  • AGIC - Arizona Geographic Information Council
  • ALRIS - Arizona Land Resource Information System
  • EROS - Earth Resources Observation and Science Center
  • SCO - Arizona State Cartographer's Office - Arizona Imagery Server
  • USGS - United States Geological Survey

Getting Other Aerial Photos (not orthophotos)

The Pictometry Viewer at Pictometry Aerial Photos has a Download Photo as JPG tool button that allows saving the original JPG photo file for the displayed photo. These are generally oblique (angled) photos but the viewer can also display and download small, individual orthophotos.

The Pima County DOT Engineering Information Management (EIM) section maintains a library of historical paper and mylar imagery. Hard copies are available for a nominal reproduction cost. While you can't see these photos on the web, you can use the Aerial Photo Lookup page to identify available photos that might meet your needs. If you find photos of interest, you can contact our EIM counter at 520-740-6332 to request copies and ordering details. You can also call them to determine what might be available. You may want to visit the EIM counter located at 201 N. Stone Av., 5th floor during business hours to review available photos.

The Pima County Regional Flood Control District has historical aerial photos related to their work. They include photos on their Historical Aerial Photos page and others that are not available online. You may be able to see these at their customer service counter. See their web site for contact information.

Aerial imagery firms such as Landiscor and Cooper Aerial Surveys are additional sources you may want to check.