Orthophotography

Orthophotography is digital aerial photography that has been geometrically corrected or “orthorectified”, meaning the images show objects on the ground in their true scale and geographic position. Measurements of distances, angles and areas can be taken directly from the orthophotos. Commonly used to monitor changes in land cover over time and as an accurate background image in the production of maps, digital orthophotography is important reference data used with Geographic Information System (GIS) software.

LiDAR Ortho Map IllustrationThe regional coverage areas acquired have expanded or shifted from year to year depending on available funding and the interest areas of funding contributors.  To see if imagery is available for your area of interest (AOI) and year, you can check this online map viewer.  

To request available imagery data, please email the project coordinator with a boundary shapefile or image outlining your area of interest, along with the file formats you are interested in receiving.  Depending on the year, available formats include mosaic or tiled ECW, MrSID, and 4-band GeoTIFF.

Orthophotography exampleDownload Images

Most ortho-imagery in this section can also be downloaded directly from the RGIS website managed by the Earth Data Analysis Center at the University of New Mexico.