DIGITAL PROJECTS AND GIS by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth, by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth, and Mark Sullivan University of Florida Libraries

DIGITAL PROJECTS AND GISDIGITAL PROJECTS AND GIS by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth,by Stephanie C. Haas, Joe Aufmuth,

and Mark Sullivan and Mark Sullivan University of Florida Libraries University of Florida Libraries

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/digital/collections/FLAP/http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/digital/collections/FLAP/

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 codeFlight no.Tile no.

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.

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.

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

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)

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 onMrSID Web Server

FCLA Staff

WORKFLOW

LARGE FORMAT CAMERA CAPTURED THE PHOTOMOSAIC INDEXES

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/tilein preparation time Cost added an additional$6,000 to scanning labor. (Not much funeither!)

DEALING WITH 88,000 aerials

Mark Sullivan, a student programmer with the DLC, created two programs that became critical to the project’ssuccess.

The first tracked tiles through the digitization chain:1) recorded date received,2) student assigned,3) completion of scan-including scanner used andtime scanned, and4) CD number holding TIFF image.

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,

and4) Stored data in the database.

CREATING the GIS INTERFACE

SOFTWARE USED:

Leica’s Erdas Imagine – Image Clean Up

Adobe Photoshop – Image Clean Up

ESRI’s ArcGIS – University Site License

Workstation – Georeferencing/Rectification

ArcMap – Georeferencing QA/QC

ArcIMS – Internet Map Server

Geomatics Coordinate Transformation Program

STAFFING: 6 Geomatics StudentsSummer Cooperative ProgramMinimal Experience

HARDWARE

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

Aerial Index Sheets: Photo Tile Mosaic for Alachua County, FL

Legend andSheet Index

Scanned photomosaics index sheets were geographically rectified

67 Counties

3 Meter DOQs

Roads

Rivers

Lakes

TRS

County Boundary

ANCILLARY LAYERS USED TO RECTIFY THE INDEXES

Image Processing and GIS Data

Ground Control LayerSheet DOQQ

Pixel Real World

Tieing Together County IndexesSheet 1 Sheet 2

Pixel

Pixel

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

Aerial Tile Layer and associated database

Each aerial dot represents a searchable record in the layer’s database. Tile records have 9 fields.

Map interface to the aerial photos

LAYERS AVAILABLEwith associated symbols

BASIC SEARCH

ADVANCED SEARCH

EXAMPLE

Results

Zoom to results

Two quick comments:

Even though the individual aerial tiles were not rectified.The resolution is sufficient for use in some GIS projectsand several thousand have been FTP’d to agencies andcompanies.

Because the map interface uses GIS tools, we developedseveral guides on how to use the collection. These guides are available off the top level page.