NRSC UK Borough and County Aerial Photography

The scale of the photographs depends to some extent on the borough/county, but is predominantly 1:5000 for towns/cities and 1:10000 for complete counties. These vertical aerial photographs are taken with a large camera mounted in the floor of an aeroplane flying in a series of pre-planned flight lines.

The images overlap by 60% along the flight line to allow for stereoscopic (3D) viewing. There is a 25% overlap between flight lines. In addition to their prime application in photogrammetric mapping (from updating and contouring existing maps to preparing large scale engineering plans), air photos are used for environmental studies, general planning, land use and land capability, soils, pollution, forestry, mining and quarrying, housing and leisure development, agriculture, geology, water, transport and civil engineering, boundary disputes, public enquiries, etc.