Aerial Photo Resources

State Cartographer's Office

The Wisconsin Catalog of Aerial Photography provides a comprehensive listing of aerial photography acquired by federal, state, and local agencies and other groups, separated by county. This catalog is the most complete record of aerial photography in Wisconsin to date, containing information for over 3,000 projects.

The catalog includes online index images for nearly 700 projects located at the Robinson Map Library. You can also view the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder (WHAIFinder) to search images from 1937 to 1941.

Shoreline Inventory and Oblique Viewer

The Wisconsin Shoreline Inventory and Oblique Viewer shows Lake Superior shoreline photos across several years in Bayfield County and throughout the state. Oblique photos spanning from 1976-2018 are available. View more interactive maps that illustrate coastal issues in Wisconsin, such as the Coastal Access Viewer and the Lake Level Viewer on the Wisconsin Coastal Atlas website.

USGS EROS Center

The EarthExplorer map can be used to search, preview, and obtaining geo-spatial datasets from extensive collections. Users can search by exact location via the interactive map or input specific coordinates to view what data types are available. Some examples of imagery collection programs are provided below.

The National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) provides more than 1.3 million cloud-free black-and-white and color infrared aerial photographs over the United States obtained from an altitude of 20,000 feet. Photographs are available as medium or high resolution digital images (1987-2007). Images can be downloaded from the EarthExplorer map.

The National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) includes imagery acquired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) through the Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) through the during agricultural growing seasons or "leaf-on conditions" in the United States (2003-present). Images can be downloaded from the EarthExplorer map.

View the USGS EROS Archive to view all aerial and satellite photograph sources.

Additional Resources