Source for OLD areal photos

[WTNUT]

I need some old areal photos for the 1985-1995 time frame for Asheville, NC area. What are you go to sources to buy them? I know I have bought old ones as far back as the 60s for my farm, but not sure where I go them.

I need to look and see how far Google Earth goes back.


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[Hoytvectrix]

Vintage Aerial is pretty decent, but pricey, and they mostly focus on the homesteads.

Check with your local NRCS office. Most keep books of the old aerial photos and some will let you get a scan of a page or three.

Google Earth can work well depending on where the farm is, but I haven't seen any older than the mid 90s for color.

 

[FarmerDan]

USDA, USGS, holds most of the old georeferenced aerial imagery. For some states the collections start in the mid 1930's. I can point you in the right direction for buying hard copy imagery. Most digital acquisitions didn't start until 2000 or later. Since you specifically asked about North Carolina (states and local governments havr become the curators of much of the national sourced data), go here.

https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/formats/maps/historical-data-and-maps

 

[FarmerDan]

After another thought (my thoughts kinda' wonder about at my age) you may find what you need on Google Earth. Use the Historical Imagery feature. It look like they have a layer dating sometime in 1994. I know many of us love Google and Google Maps/Earth. So far as I know they have never spent a dollar to acquire satellite or "fixed wing" imagery. They are just smart enough to assemble what's in the public domain (federal, state, acquisitions) and warehouse it for use in "their" applications.

 

[FarmerDan]

I will go one step further. There's this USDA office in Salt Lake City called APFO, Aerial Photography Field Office. They do all the contracting for acquisition of aerial imagery used by USDA. They have been budgeted no money, ever, to digitize the old film acquisitions BUT, for a small fee, they will produce a hard copy photograph of your area of Interest. If you want to go that deep, call them.

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/how_to_order.pdf