More than 500,000 photo negatives, dating from 1945 to the present year, exist in NOS archives and are maintained by the National Geodetic Survey. Surveys are conducted on varying time cycles, depending on the amount of change caused by human or natural forces. Photography is acquired when weather conditions, the sun angle, and water levels are optimal to capture the right shot.
Combining information from aerial photographs with hydrographic data helps to ensure that nautical charts are accurate. Nautical charts are one of the most fundamental tools available to mariners for planning voyages and navigating ships using the shortest, safest, and most economical routes. Therefore, it is especially important that the information displayed on charts is correct.
The shoreline—where water and land meet—is commonly referenced as a boundary component in legal descriptions, as the point of origin for jurisdictional boundaries, and as the boundary between public and private ownership.
One of the tools used to define the boundaries between private, state, and federal ownership and jurisdictions, including the territorial sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone, is aerial photography.
Benthic habitats are mapped and studied using a variety of tools and techniques. Aerial photography is one such tool. Scientists use aerial photographs to identify different habitats along the shore and in shallow water.
Coastal elevation maps provide important information for coastal communities, as in coastal areas a change in elevation of one foot can make huge differences in habitats and human safety.
Revised January 11, 2013
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