DEMAC is funded by
Aerial Photography
Aerial photography, typically termed orthophotography once the data has been geocorrected, have been used in mapmaking for over a century. Over the past few decades, technology advances have made orthophotography invaluable and dramatically improved our comprehension of Earth and it's precious resources.
Access Aerial Data
The State of Delaware has flown (or has acquired) aerial orthophotography from various times since 1926. Thanks to the past efforts of the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) in collecting this imagery, converting it to a digital format when necessary, and initial distribution of map services, the State of Delaware has been offering these images publicly for a number of years. The data is distributed from DEMAC as individual files (per tile) and from Delaware FirstMap as Image Rest Services [current list]. Some of the years of data are also available from other organizations in various formats. See the details in inventory below for more specific information.
If there are other orthophotographic datasets you think should be included in this inventory, we encourage you to contact the Delaware FirstMap team .
Current Inventory
| Year | Resolution | Bands | Tile Download? |
FirstMap Service? |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.25 meter | 4-band | Yes | Yes |
Surdex Corp.
Delivered as 2010 tiles 1,700m x 1,700m SRS: Delaware State Plane NAD83 Vertical Datum: NAVD88 (meters) Metadata - [Link] |
| 2013 | 1.0 meter | 3-band: R,G,B | No | No |
USDA NAIP Delivered as three counties. Each tile is 1.0m x 1.0m, 528 MB - 814 MB (MrSID format). SRS: UTM Zone 18N NAD83 meters Scale: 1:12,000 Metadata - [New Castle County XML] [Kent County XML] [Sussex County XML] |
| 2012 | 0.3 meters | 4-band: R,G,B,NIR | Yes | Yes |
Sanborn Delivered as 2010 tiles, same tiling scheme as 2002 imagery Each tile is 1.7km x 1.7km, 5667x5667 pixels, ~133 MB (TIF). SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:2,400 Metadata - [Link] |
| 2011 | 1.0 meter | 3-band: R,G,B | No | No |
USDA NAIP Delivered as three counties. Each tile is 1.0m x 1.0m, 750 MB - 1 GB (MrSID). SRS: UTM Zone 18N NAD83 meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [New Castle County XML] [Kent County XML] [Sussex County XML] |
| 2010 | 1.0 feet | 3-band: R,G,B | Yes | No |
Joint project among USGS, DVRPC, Dept of Homeland Security (vendor was Aero-Metric, Inc) New Castle County only. Delivered in same tiling scheme as 2002 and 2007 imagery Each tile is 1.7km x 1.7km, 5578x5578 pixels, 91 MB (TIF). SRS: NAD83 Delaware State Plane meters (projected from PA UTM) Scale: 1:25,404 Metadata - [XML] |
| 2009 | 1.0 meter | 3-band: R,G,B | No | Yes |
USDA NAIP Delivered as three counties. Each tile is 1.0m x 1.0m, 750 MB - 1 GB (MrSID). SRS: UTM Zone 18N NAD83 meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [New Castle County XML] [Kent County XML] [Sussex County XML] |
| 2007 | 0.25 meter | 4-band: R,G,B,NIR | Yes | Yes |
Sanborn Delivered as 2010 tiles. Each tile is 1.7km x 1.7km, 6800x6800 pixels, and 180MB (TIF). SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:2,400 Metadata - [XML] |
| 2006 | 1.0 meter | 3-band: R,G,B | No | Yes |
USDA NAIP Delivered as three counties. Each tiles is 1.0m x1.0m, 750 MB - 1 GB (MrSID). SRS: UTM Zone 18N NAD83 meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [New Castle County XML] [Kent County XML] [Sussex County XML] |
| 2002 | 0.25 meter | 3-band: G,R,NIR | Yes | Yes |
EarthData Delivered as 2010 tiles. Each tile is 1.7km x 1.7km, 6800x6800 pixels, and 135MB (TIF). SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:2,400 Metadata - [XML] |
| 1997 | 1.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | Yes | Yes |
DelDOT Delivered as 172 Quarter-quads. Each tile is 45 MB (TIF). SRS: NAD83 State Plane meters Scale: 1:12,000 Also available: Spatial Analysis Lab, UD (5-meter) Metadata - [XML] |
| 1992 | 1.0 meter | 3-band: G, R, NIR | Yes | Yes |
DelDOT Delivered as 172 Quarter-quads. Each tile is 137 MB (TIF). Scale: 1:12,000 SRS: NAD83 State Plane meters Also available: Spatial Analysis Lab, UD (5-meter) Metadata - [XML] |
| 1977 | 1.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | No | No |
USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (FSA) In progress of georeferencing images... Black and White About 180 tiles, 33Mb each. Digital imagery obtained by UD Morris Library from USDA. Scale: 1:40,000 |
| 1968 | 2.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | Yes | Yes |
USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (FSA) Black and White Scanned and georectified using ERDAS Imagine Flying height 40,000 feet, 6-inch focal length camera SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [XML] |
| 1961 | 2.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | Yes | Yes |
USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (FSA) Black and White Scanned and georectified using ERDAS Imagine Flying height 40,000 feet, 6-inch focal length camera SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [XML] |
| 1954 | 1.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | Yes | Yes |
USDA Agricultural and Commodity Stabilization Service Black and White Scanned and georectified using ERDAS Imagine Flying height 40,000 feet, 6-inch focal length camera SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Scale: 1:20,000 Metadata - [XML] |
| 1937 | 1.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | Yes | Yes |
USDA Agricultural Adjustment Administration Black and White Scanned and georectified using ERDAS Imagine Flying height 40,000 feet, 6-inch focal length camera Scale: 1:20,000 SRS: NAD83 HARN Delaware State Plane meters Metadata - [XML] |
| 1926 | 1.0 meter | 1-band: Panchromatic | No | Yes |
Metadata - [XML] |
Tiled Aerial Data Downloads
Many of the Delaware aerial photography collections are available for downloading in small chunks (rectangular "tiles") to allow for easy distribution of such a large dataset. Much of the imagery flown since 2002 were originally delivered as rectangular tiles of 1.7 km per side. Historic imagery was carved out to match the same tiling structure. DEMAC is making all of the tiles available for download. Only one file is downloadable at a time.
Visit the Delaware Tiled Aerial Data Distribution site.
Data are distributed in TIF, JPEG, or JPEG2000 format, depending upon the year. Statistics are computed where possible and a coordinate system is assigned to each tile. For each download, all associated files with each image (xml, aux, tfw, etc...) are zipped together in a ".zip" archive file. (We previously distributed data in 7z format. Although 7-zip is still an excellent zip and archive program, and free of charge and platform independent, we moved to used the zip format due to its natively wide acceptance in all platforms since this site was first launched.)
Center for Environmental Monitoring & Analysis (CEMA)
College of Earth, Ocean, & Environment
212 Pearson Hall | University of Delaware | Newark, DE 19716-2541
Phone: (302) 831-6581 • Fax: (302) 831-6654 • © 2018