Aerial Photography Summary Record System

Fact Sheet 220-96 (August 1998)

This publication is out-of-date and the CD is no longer available.

Introduction

The Aerial Photography Summary Record System (APSRS) describes aerial photography projects that meet specified criteria over a given geographic area of the United States and its territories.

Aerial photographs are an important tool in cartography and a number of other professions. Land use planners, real estate developers, lawyers, environmental specialists, and many other professionals rely on detailed and timely aerial photographs.

Until 1975, there was no systematic approach to locate an aerial photograph, or series of photographs, quickly and easily. In that year, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) inaugurated the APSRS, which has become a standard reference for users of aerial photographs.

Contents

There are two data bases in the system: the APSRS data base and the contributor data base. Each record in the APSRS data base contains up to 13 descriptive fields. All fields can be displayed, and 12 of the 13 fields can be searched. Not all fields, however, contain data for every record.

Each record in the contributor data base contains the name, address, and phone number of a contributor. The contributor field and the field containing the city, State, and zip code can be searched.

The APSRS data base describes more than 600,000 aerial photography projects covering the United States and its territories. A number of Federal, State, and municipal agencies and commercial firms contribute to APSRS.

Each listing is a summary of aerial photography projects within a 7.5- by 7.5-minute quadrangle area, corresponding to the USGS 7.5-minute map series. Entries are sorted by project date and describe the scale, project code, file type, cloud cover, and camera focal length. The entries also give the name of the holding agency or firm.

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Requirements

Hardware requirements include an IBM PC-XT-AT or compatible microcomputer with 512 kilobytes of memory, with DOS operating system version 3.0 or greater; one 20-megabyte hard drive; and a CD-ROM reader with software drivers that read ISO-9660 formatted CD-ROM's.

Information

The APSRS data base and contributor data base are available on CD-ROM for $57.00, plus a $5.00 handling fee. The CD-ROM contains licensed software for searching, sorting, displaying, printing, and exporting the data. The software must be installed onto a hard drive before the data can be used. The CD-ROM is accompanied by a users manual.

For information on ordering the CD-ROM, or to obtain a list of available photographs covering a specific area, contact any Earth Science Information Center (ESIC).

The data bases are maintained by the USGS. For information about submitting projects for entry into the APSRS, contact:

U.S. Geological Survey
APSRS Data Base Manager
509 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
703-648-5903

For information on these and other USGS products and services, call 1-888-ASK-USGS, or visit the general interest publications Web site on mapping, geography, and related topics at erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/pubslists/.

For additional information, visit the ask.usgs.gov Web site or the USGS home page at www.usgs.gov.

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This document has undergone official review and approval for publications established by theNational Mapping Division, U.S. Geological Survey. Some figures, have been modified or added to improve the scientific visualization of information.