Citizen Participation In Identifying Countywide Historical Aerial Photographs

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) staff with the Flood Control District of Maricopa County manages an archive of more than 71,000 aerial photographs of parts of Maricopa County, including the Phoenix metropolitan area, shot in various years from 1930 through 2007. The aerial photographs are available for viewing, printing, and purchase on the District’s Website. The GIS staff recently added to the archive new images originally photographed in 1930 during a Smithsonian Institution archaeological expedition of the Phoenix area. Besides the historical and technical significance of these photographs, the images are unique in that some are “oblique,” or at a lower altitude and at an angle to the ground. Physical features such as buildings, trees, and mountains appear with an almost 3-D effect. The Smithsonian, however, had not identified the ground location of each of the images. GIS staff encouraged Maricopa County citizens to help in identifying the photographs through a request on the District’s website. The enthusiastic citizen response resulted in nearly 60 percent of the photographs being identified in the first few weeks after the website announcement. The GIS staff anticipates having all the 1930 images indentified by the end of the year.