Short Tutorial On A Powerful Tool - Historic Aerials

[F350Platinum]

I'm snowed in for the next couple of days and have other stuff to do. While I'm bored to death I thought I'd show how easy it is once you have a permission to locate buildings using Historic Aerials - I hope they never charge for this or go offline.

I used an area that is not one of mine, sorry. 😁

Let's say you have permission to hunt an old farm. You go to the website http://www.historicaerials.com, click or tap on "View images". If you have a GPS-enabled device, you can accept the website using your location.

Next, locate the farm you have permission to by moving the base map around, and then click or tap the Topos button, it will bring up a list of all topographic maps for that area.

I selected the 1916 map for this farm in the center. Next you tap overlays and select roads, which will superimpose the basemap roads on the topo, a great tool if the roads have moved or changed. It isn't perfectly accurate most times, but it's pretty good.

Next click the Topos button again, this is where I will pick a late one to see if buildings have been added or deleted, I switch back and forth. After the 1980s they stopped putting squares where houses were, so there's that. 😵

This is the 1966 topo of the same area, you can look around and switch back and forth to see if anything changed.

Once you have a pretty good idea of where the buildings or areas you want are, you can bring up the latest satellite map of the area, which you can use to match features on an app like OnX Hunt.

I make marks of all the buildings, and specific features in the app. It makes it much easier to find stuff! You can walk right to them and track your hunting.

OnX Hunt will show property lines, owner information, and topographic info if you pay the ransom for your state.

Hope you find this interesting if you've never heard of it. 🙂

[GB_Amateur]

The cursor location is shown in the lower Left Hand corner in lat+long coordinates.  You can then enter those into Google Maps/Earth to hone in on modern terrain and landmarks.

In both the USGS topos but especially the aerial photographs, some are better than others so looking through all of them and picking the ones with the best resolution will help.  But of course the landscape, etc. changes with time and sometimes you're stuck looking at the worst resolution images.  Some of the aerials were taken with leaves on the trees.  Obviously it's easier to discern details in the ones taken in late autumn / winter / early spring.

In my experience the topos aren't always reliable, for example when buildings appear and disappear in time.  All part of the 'game' we play.

[F350Platinum]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:08 PM, GB_Amateur said:

The cursor location is shown in the lower Left Hand corner in lat+long coordinates.  You can then enter those into Google Maps/Earth to hone in on modern terrain and landmarks.

In both the USGS topos but especially the aerial photographs, some are better than others so looking through all of them and picking the ones with the best resolution will help.  But of course the landscape, etc. changes with time and sometimes you're stuck looking at the worst resolution images.  Some of the aerials were taken with leaves on the trees.  Obviously it's easier to discern details in the ones taken in late autumn / winter / early spring.

In my experience the topos aren't always reliable, for example when buildings appear and disappear in time.  All part of the 'game' we play.

They do their best to match stuff up, but topos changed over the years in measurements. OnX Hunt is great, but only as good as the data the counties provide. I have one place where we had to ask where the real property line was, then the other farmer came along and gave us permission to his land! 😀

"They" say location is everything. With this you can find what parts of a location have more potential, scouting is a big help too. Sometimes I hit iron in places I didn't expect it, and mark that area in OnX for future reference.

The building "squares" are the big point here, as you go through the years some disappear. I found an old location or two no one knew about and they were quite productive. 

[GB_Amateur]

8 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

The building "squares" are the big point here....

I agree and I hone in on those.  The problem (and it's minor as long as you are aware) is that they aren't always accurate in time.  It's particularly damaging if a building that was present doesn't show up at the proper time.  For example, it's a big deal to me if a building existed in 1955 as opposed to not until 1965 but if the 'update' in the between time didn't pick that up, then I'm less likely to want to search there.  That's where the aerials (when the resolution is good enough) really help.  Photos don't depend upon a fallible human to add a feature.

[relicmeister]

Gonna study this over the weekend. Appreciate your posting it. I’m very weak in this area and need the step by step help. 

[strick]

Do you subscribe to the historic aerials site? Last time I looked it was several hundred dollars a year..being the tight arse I am I just use the free version with watermarks all over the place but it still kinda works...we have places here esp in the foot hills were the topo maps are of no use due to the large scale it will only show towns and land marks no square homes...so the aerials will come in handy for these areas at times. 

strick

[F350Platinum]

8 minutes ago, strick said:

Do you subscribe to the historic aerials site? Last time I looked it was several hundred dollars a year..being the tight arse I am I just use the free version with watermarks all over the place but it still kinda works...we have places here esp in the foot hills were the topo maps are of no use due to the large scale it will only show towns and land marks no square homes...so the aerials will come in handy for these areas at times. 

strick

I don't subscribe either, and am grateful for the free stuff. 👍 This little process has put me on to quite a few house sites that are gone now, and I've found lots of cool stuff. One of the houses was taken down in 2014, the landowner said the people who lived there were never sober. 🤣 That explains all the aluminum bottle caps I dug!

I should have added an old aerial photo, may update that post. The last step is going to the current aerial (satellite) to match up with OnX, so I can take the locations with me. OnX is also free but you have to pay for property lines, I think it's about $20 a year for your state.

[GB_Amateur]

Something I wonder about is whether or not there are more aerial photos available (e.g. at the local library) than are in their database.  In my area, HistoricAerials (HA) starts in the mid-50's but there are two large gaps on the way to present day -- one is 18 years and another is 14 years.  When I was in Western MA this past August I used the HA website for that property and it had different years for the aerials, including one from the 1940's.

Does anyone know the story behind aerial photos?  Is it a well organized and scheduled process or just a haphazard collection whenever some organization decides they want one?

[JCR]

Yes, Historic Aerials is a great tool. Don't neglect to use the elevation contour lines & water courses on the Topo maps to find the high ground, likely stream confluences & crossings and probable old roads between areas of activity. Think like the old folks; water access, ease of travel & proximity to resources.

I will use the Measure function to mark a spot with a green dot that carries over to the other maps & photos.

[F350Platinum]

43 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Does anyone know the story behind aerial photos?  Is it a well organized and scheduled process or just a haphazard collection whenever some organization decides they want one?

I just thought they are a declassified gummint collection taken for various reasons... 🤔 😀