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Aerial Photography of Minnesota - FSA

For many years, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has coordinated summer flights of Minnesota’s agricultural counties. Partnerships with other federal and state agencies expanded flight coverage to the entire state through the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). Earlier USDA photos taken since the mid-1930s are also available for many areas of the state.
 

NAIP Digital Photos

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Summary Table

Year Status Resolution Area*
 Color Accuracy**
2023 Planned TBD
2022 Not flown        
2021 Available: County MrSID files, natural color WMS service 60cm Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2020 Not flown        
2019 Available 60cm Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2018 Not flown        
2017 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2016 Not flown        
2015 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2014 Not flown        
2013 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2012 Not flown        
2011 Not flown        
2010 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color (3-band) Orthorectified
2009 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color (3-band) Orthorectified
2008 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color and color-infrared (4-band) Orthorectified
2007 Not flown        
2006 Available 2-meter Most of Minnesota (map) natural color (3-band) Geo-rectified
2005 Available 2-meter Most of Minnesota (map) natural color (3-band) Geo-rectified
2004 Available 2-meter Most of Minnesota (map) natural color (3-band) Geo-rectified
2003-04 Available 1-meter Statewide natural color (3-band) Orthorectified
2002 Available 1-meter 28 southern Minnesota counties (state state map, national map) natural color (3-band) Orthorectified
2001 Available 2-meter 64,000 square miles of southern Minnesota natural color (3-band) Geo-rectified

* For additional area coverage information, see the national NAIP coverage status maps for 2002 onward.

** Orthorectified photos have better horizontal positional accuracy than geo-rectified photos.
 

Pre-2001 prints and slides

Earlier than 2001: Prints or 35mm slides may be available for ordering; many 1938-39 scanned photos are online.

1938-39 air photos:  View or download historic air photos from DNR's Landview website. Two major sources are 1938-39 U.S. Department of Agriculture photos and 1950s U.S. Geological Survey photos used to support production of USGS 1:24,000-scale maps. There are also some photos from the 1940s, and the 1960s through the 1990s. DNR has scanned the hardcopy photos as gray-scale images; each photo covers about ten square miles. Note that the photos are not georeferenced. The project is ongoing -- to see the status of which areas are covered, go to the Landview site, and check the box(es) for one or more decades under "Aerial Photography"/"Historic Air Photos". To retrieve a photo, click on the "info" button (an "i" with an arrow) and then on a colored dot showing a photo center location. For more help using the site, click on "how to use" at the top left of the Landview screen.
 

Aerial Photography Field Office information

Photos from 1955 through the present are housed at USDA's Aerial Photography Field Office in Salt Lake City. The APFO describes itself as the largest source of historical and current imagery of the conterminous United States. It houses photographic imagery secured for the Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service in addition to the Farm Service Agency. It also houses copies of NAPP photography, produced jointly with the U.S. Geological Survey.

APFO's catalog lists photographic coverage by state and by county. See their website for ordering information and payment options.
 

 

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