1. DIGITAL PROJECTS AND GIS by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth, by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth, and Mark Sullivan University of Florida Libraries http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/digital/collections/FLAP/

2. Between 1937 and 1970, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created more than 88,000 black and white, 9 x 9 aerial photographs with 2,200 accompanying photomosaic indexes of Florida. Flight date County code Flight no. Tile no.

3. Originally intended to assist farmers determine accurate assessments for their farms and to provide information on crop determination and soil conservation, today these images provide some of the oldest land use/cover information available. They are used extensively in agriculture, conservation, urbanization, recreation, education, hydrology, geology, land use, ecology, geography, and history.

4. In 2002, the Digital Library Center at UF received an LSTA grant to digitize the aerial tiles from 1937 to 1952 and make them available through a map server. A renewal grant in 2003 permitted the digitization of the aerials through 1970.

5. Objectives Scan 80,000 + Air Photo Tiles +2,200 indexes Geographically Reference Index Sheets Create Spatial Index Data Base Linked to Individual Air Photo Tiles Deliver Spatial Index and Photos via the Internet

6. A Collaborative Effort Map and Imagery Library Digital Library Center (DLC) Government Documents Library Systems Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA)-stores MrSID images Geomatics Program (Civil Engineering)

7. Select Tiles Map Library & DLC Staff Original Tiffs Archived Scan Indexes and Tiles Prepare Images & Create SIDs Create Photo Tile Database Process Tile Requests DLC Staff Support Tile Database Support Mapserver Modify ArcIMS Systems Staff Process Tiff Indexes Create GIS Tile Point Layer Create GIS Database Manage ArcIMS Site GIS Staff Host SIDs on MrSID Web Server FCLA Staff WORKFLOW

8. LARGE FORMAT CAMERA CAPTURED THE PHOTOMOSAIC INDEXES

9. Microteck 1800XL flatbed scanners 10-12 Tiles/hr 80,000 + Tiles 615 DPI Greyscale – 8bit Aerial tiles were scanned on flatbed scanners Erasing crayon markings that were unanticipated added up to 2 min/tile in preparation time Cost added an additional $6,000 to scanning labor. (Not much fun either!)

10. DEALING WITH 88,000 aerials Mark Sullivan, a student programmer with the DLC, created two programs that became critical to the projects success. The first tracked tiles through the digitization chain: 1) recorded date received, 2) student assigned, 3) completion of scan-including scanner used and time scanned, and 4) CD number holding TIFF image.

12. The second tool: 1)Automated image collection from disparate scanning locations, 2)Performed basic image manipulation for quality control, 3)Created MrSID compressed image for serving, and 4)Stored data in the database.

14. CREATING the GIS INTERFACE SOFTWARE USED: Leicas Erdas Imagine – Image Clean Up Adobe Photoshop – Image Clean Up ESRIs ArcGIS – University Site License Workstation – Georeferencing/Rectification ArcMap – Georeferencing QA/QC ArcIMS – Internet Map Server Geomatics Coordinate Transformation Program STAFFING: 6 Geomatics Students Summer Cooperative Program Minimal Experience

15. HARDWARE 2 Designated Dell Precision 350 Workstations 3 Additional Library Computers 460 GB storage 3 DVD drives 1 5GB tape drive

16. Aerial Index Sheets: Photo Tile Mosaic for Alachua County, FL Legend and Sheet Index

17. Scanned photomosaics index sheets were geographically rectified

18. 67 Counties 3 Meter DOQs Roads Rivers Lakes TRS County Boundary ANCILLARY LAYERS USED TO RECTIFY THE INDEXES

19. Image Processing and GIS Data Ground Control Layer Sheet DOQQ Pixel Real World

20. Tieing Together County Indexes Sheet 1Sheet 2 Pixel

21. Individual aerials were linked by matching the flight text string (upper right corner) with the text string on the rectified indexes. Index Individual aerial tile

22. Aerial Tile Layer and associated database Each aerial dot represents a searchable record in the layers database. Tile records have 9 fields.

23. Map interface to the aerial photos

24. LAYERS AVAILABLE with associated symbols

26. BASIC SEARCH

27. ADVANCED SEARCH

28. EXAMPLE

29. Results

31. Zoom to results

32. Two quick comments: Even though the individual aerial tiles were not rectified. The resolution is sufficient for use in some GIS projects and several thousand have been FTPd to agencies and companies. Because the map interface uses GIS tools, we developed several guides on how to use the collection. These guides are available off the top level page.