Aerial Maps

Compared with the amazing quality of today's aerial maps, the first efforts at aerial mapping were extremely poor. Today an aerial map can provide a detail that would have been unbelievable to the early proponents of aerial photography. In those early days most of the aerial photography was done from hot-air balloons. These provided a way to get to an altitude of several hundred feet, which was enough to take an aerial photograph that was of use.

The first aerial maps showed the streets and roads of major cities, plus the main buildings. An early aerial map would also have shown the main parks and gardens. In those days the maps created had little use apart from as a way of seeing town and cities from the perspective of the air.

However with the coming of the airplane, aerial mapping took on a whole new meaning. An aerial photograph taken from a balloon had extreme limitations, but aerial photography from an aircraft was practically unlimited. Aircraft could fly at higher altitudes, which meant the aerial maps could take in a much greater area. But it also meant that areas previously outside the scope of aerial mapping were now within reach. An airplane could fly for miles and take aerial shots of almost anywhere. Now it wasn't only the main parts of cities that were mapped from the air, but small town, areas of countryside and even mountainous regions could be photographed from the air and a large-scale aerial map produced.

As flying technology improved, so did the technology to take the photographs. Cameras used for aerial mapping increased in sophistication. The early cameras were a simple basic model, and so the early maps were simple too. But as the camera technology improved, including large-format cameras, aerial photography entered a whole new era. The detail brought up by these large-format aerial photographs mean that aerial mapping could be done a detail and sophistication never seen before. Even small details of the landscape could be recorded and mapped out.

The next step in aerial photography was, of course, satellite photography. As aerial mapping done from aircraft made photography from balloons obsolete, so did aerial photography from satellites make aerial mapping from aircraft if not obsolete, then definitely a second best. Aerial photography from satellites provides a level of detail that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. Not only that, but a map created from an aerial photograph taken from a satellite can be of anywhere on the earth. Truly, satellite photography has made it possible to produce real earth maps. These maps can show every detail of anywhere on the earth. Coupled with satellite technology has also come the introduction of digital photography, with its increased quality.

With the amazing aerial mapping technology now at the fingertips of cartographers worldwide, there is no place that cannot be photographed and mapped from the air. This website is packed with information about aerial maps and mapping techniques.

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