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  • Home
  • Surveying Links
  • Contact Us
  • Chapter Members
  • Maine Surveying History
  • About Maine Deeds
    • Funny Deeds
  • Chapter Sponsors
  • Surveyors Plans
    • Richard Eaton
    • Robert Farthing
    • Wayne Wood
    • David Bouffard
    • Sebago Technics
    • BH2M
    • Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Plans
    • Phil Spiller
    • Varney
    • Carl Emery
    • Clifford English
    • Harraseeket
  • James Lauzier Sunshot
  • Aerial Photo Instructions
  • Trespass & Easement by Acquiescence
  • Converting a SUV into Surveying Vehicle
  • Past Reports and Meetings
  • Maine Railroad Real Estate Contact
Narragansett&nbsp;Chapter<br />of the<br />&#8203;Maine State Land Surveyors

Aerial Photos: 
Instructions on inserting aerial photos in AutoCad drawings

To access the Maine GIS website, Google 'MEGIS', choose the Maine Geographic Information system link. Click 'Maps' in the set of links on the left side of the page the 'Aerial Photograph Viewer'. The Next screen will take a while to lead depending on the speed of your internet connection. You'll see a map of Maine on the right side of the screen, a bar that says 'Results' to the let and a bar that says 'Map Contents' under that. Leave the settings in Map Contents alone.

Click on 'Zoom to a Town' above the 'Results' bar. Choose your town. Type in the first letter of the town. Type the letter repeatedly until the town appears (e.g. type 'B' 5 times for Bangor) or type the letter once, click on the arrows to the right of the town name and scroll down to the right name. 

Click on 'Zoom'. A highlighted outline of the town will appear superimposed on the aerial photo background.   

The name of the town will appear in the results box to the left of the photo. Un-check the town name in the results panel to get rid of the highlight on the town. A Delorme Atlas can help find the area of interest in the town. 

 Click the "+" button above the photo. Click on the site to zoom in. Click on the pan button (the hand) above the photo if necessary to center the site. To pan, hold the left mouse button down and drag the photo around.   

Click on the "I" button then on your site. This gives you a listing in the Results Box. Because the default in the box above the photo is set to index_augusta_manchester_2008. If you scroll to the right you see (0) files had been selected and the choice is not colored indicating that you can't download that particular map because in this case there ae no Bangor photos in the Augusta-Manchester set.   

Switch to a useable source (e.g. Index_Geolibrary_1ft_2003-2005). this time the screen turns pink in the file area and a URL appears in the results box to click on. When you click on this link, a file downloads to your hard drive. Search around in the bar up top to see what's available. In  Cumberland County, the 2001 set of photos are dated but provide the best resolution. the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) photos are recent but leaf-on. Older files download as SID files. Newer ones download as JP2 files.   

To decompress your photo for use in CAD, use LizardTech GeoViewer 4.1 or newer. Google LizardTech. Click on the LizardTech "Download" link. Install this free program on your computer. Open the program from the shortcut on the desktop. Click through the 3d error message because 3d isn't needed.   

Press Control-O to add a local layer. Find the SID or JP2 file you've downloaded from the MEGIS site and double click on it. Choose projection. If the photo has more than one tile, repeat the process to add tiles until you have seamlessly assembled the whole photo.  

Click the "+" button to zoom it. continue to click on th site to center and enlarge it until the area of interest fills the screen. click on 'Tools', 'Export', 'Export Current View'. Save the file as a Geotiff. Check the 'World File' button. click full resolution. Click 'Browse' and enter a file name. Click 'OK' to save it. This gives you a high-resolution aerial photo that you can use in AutoCAD or Carlson.   

Program download http://www.lizardtech.com/download/dl_options.php?page=viewers

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