Aerial Photos From TerraServer And TerraServer-USA
If you are looking for aerial photos from TerraServer, you need to make sure you know which TerraServer you want to visit. The TerraServer name is a play on words, with "Terra" referring to the "earth" or "land" and also to the terabytes of images stored on the site. There are currently two websites that operate under the name "TerraServer." They are Terraserver.com and TerraServer-USA respectively. The two, however, were once one and the same.
Though it was online as early as December 1997, the site was formally released June 24, 1998 as part of an 18 month agreement between Microsoft, Compaq, and Aerial Images of Raleigh, NC. It was originally created as a demonstration system to advertise the scalability of Microsoft's Windows NT Server and SQL Server operating systems, and used images from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Sovinformsputnik, the Russian Federal Space Agency.
In January 2000, Microsoft and Aerial Images split their operations, creating two parallel TerraServer sites. Microsoft wanted to stick with their free demonstration system, while Aerial Images wanted to expand into for-profit services and use its marketing rights to Russian satellite imagery. Thus the Microsoft product became known as Microsoft TerraServer (now TerraServer-USA), while the Aerial Images site remained known simply as TerraServer. Microsoft stuck with public domain USGS aerial imagery, while Aerial Images expanded to SPIN-2 and GeoEye satellite data. As a result of this, Microsoft's TerraServer-USA lost virtually all of its foreign imagery.
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The TerraServer.com viewer allows for users to select imagery from different dates and of different resolutions. While most of the aerial photos from TerraServer are focused on high resolution, color, satellite and aerial imagery, TerraServer.com also offers Color Infrared Imagery, Panchromatic Imagery, Low Resolution Satellite Imagery, and Topographic Maps. Subscribers to TerraServer.com gain access to a drawing and measuring tool that can measure surface distance and area. TerraServer.com also makes a number of image overlays available, including road names, FEMA flood data, earthquake data, landslide data, real estate parcels, parks, schools, hospitals, airports, and zip codes. TerraServer.com also offers other products in addition to a subscription to the website. All users are able to purchase digital downloads that include a geo-referenced world file, which allows the aerial photos from TerraServer to be imported into GIS and CAD software. Images are available in the following formats: JPEG, TIF, GIF, BMP, PDF, PSD, and PNG. TerraServer.com also allows users to select digital images and have them printed through MyTopo, who has an exclusive print partnership with TerraServer.com.
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Aerial Photography - A Great PerspectiveBy Rick Calligaris About Spatial Data and Standard GIS FormatsBy Adriana Noton |