Interpreting Aerial Photograph
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Interpreting aerial photos is not difficult. It just takes a little practice. The best way to begin is to locate a landmark on the photo(s) your are looking at. Since you already know that the photographs are from Florida, and you know what county they are from, you can make some general assumptions about what you are seeing. |
| Looking
at the Big Picture Aerial photgraphs are not all that different from any other photograph. While the first glimpes may be somewhat confusing, a very little bit of thought and practice can enable almost anyone to make good sense of these images. Anyone who has used a map has viewed areas from the same viewpoint as a vertical aerial photograph. This "bird's eye view" is familiar to anyone who has looked out an airplane window or anyone who has viewed images of a sporting event from a TV camera in a blimp. |
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example, if you pick photos from the east or west coast, the shoreline
will be clear, and you will know that any slightly irregular pattern
beside the shore is almost certainly a salt marsh. In the picture
below, the open water is to the right. It is boardered by wetlands
(salt marshes) and beyond the marsh is sandy upland with scattered
shrubs or trees. |
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| A few hints can help you make better sense of any aerial photo.First, LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE. You can tell some things about the photo instantly. Is it a city or a rural area? Is it a natural area or one where humans have made major changes to the face of the earth? If you know where the picture was taken, you have even more clues. For example, if you see small, fairly round bodies of water and the photo is from Florida, you can assume they are small sinkhole lakes formed by collapsing limestone caves. The same type of images in a photo of Wisconsin might be kettlehole ponds left from the period of the most recent ice age. |
| In the photo below, the dark rectangular areas are man-made ponds, The light areas around many of the houses are bare soil, indicating that the area is currently under construction. |
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| Generally speaking, anything you see that is a straight line or a regular geometric shape was made by humans. Very few natural forms are regular in shape. For example, an area of trees or shrubs where plants are in straight rows may be an orchard, a nursery, a pine plantation or an orange grove. Similar vegetation without the element of straight rows is likely to be a natural forest or a park. |
Aerial
Photography: FLORIDA
A State University System of Florida PALMM Project
A State University System of Florida PALMM Project
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(c) Copyright 2004, State University System of Florida
Updated:
January 10, 2005