Aerial Photography Research Services and Collection

The Knight Library Aerial Photography Collection has 1,000,000 unique images, primarily paper prints but also original film and digital photographs.

Our earliest Oregon coverage is from 1929 but the majority of coverage is for years 1935 to 2005. If your site is in western Oregon, we may have coverage as far back as the 1930s. If your site is in eastern Oregon, our earliest coverage is likely to be the 1950s. We can provide you with details on years and scales that we probably have for your site before you request your photography. 

They cover all of Oregon and some surrounding states, especially western Washington. 

We have aerial photography of all of Oregon and much of western Washington. Years and scales available vary depending on where your site is located. Please contact us for detailed coverage information for an area. You may get a general idea of coverage from our guides at: Cities, National Forests, BLM Districts. (These guides do not list full coverage for every area.)

Most images were flown for federal, state, county, and municipal agencies such as U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, National Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Oregon Department of Revenue. We also have two extensive private sector collections: Brubaker Aerial Surveys/Delano Aerial Surveys/Northern Light Studio out of Portland and Western Aerial Contractors/WAC Corp. out of Eugene, Oregon. 

The UO Libraries acquired the film and prints collection of Northern Light Studio, formerly Delano Aerial Surveys, formerly Brubaker Aerial Surveys. These three successive companies were flying aerial photography of Oregon and Washington for around 80 years. Prints in our collection date back to the 1940s. During the 1980s to the early 2000s, the company flew detailed aerial photography of the Portland area every couple of years. This gives a unique, detailed inventory of development as it occurred. We also have extensive oblique (photographed from an angle, that is "bird's-eye" view) photography of the Portland area.

WAC Corp. and it's predecessor Western Aerial Contractors began flying aerial photography out of Eugene, Oregon in the 1950s. When WAC Corp. closed it's warehouse in 2016, the University of Oregon Libraries acquired the existing prints and film for WAC's Oregon and Washington flights. University of California, Santa Barbara's Map and Imagery Laboratory acquired the California portion of the collection. WAC Corp. flew extensive flights "on spec" in the 1980s and 1990s. These flights are better resolution than the high altitude and NAPP flights the US government was flying at the time. Because the were flown "on spec" they had been available only by direct purchase from WAC Corp.

The collection is not available on a walk-in basis. In person viewing of actual prints may be done by appointment. Patrons must submit an Aerial Photography Research Request to view the prints or film. We will make an appointment with you when the photographs have been retrieved for viewing. Applicable research fees will be charged. 

• Handling of the photographs will be done under the supervision of Library staff.
• Due to concerns about the fragility/irreplaceability of the images, patrons are not allowed to scan, copy, or take flash photography of the images.
• In accordance with our published fee schedule, patrons not affiliated with the University of Oregon or patrons involved in research for commercial purposes will be required to pay a research fee to compensate for staff time spent locating and retrieving items from the collection.
• Patrons may request digital scans of some or all of an aerial photograph. They will be charged for scans in accordance with the published fee schedule.

Most of our collection is contact prints or film taken from a vertical perspective (pointing straight down so you only see the roof tops of buildings). Scales range from 1:3,680 to 1:80,000. Availability of specific years, scale, altitude, resolution, color, stereo pairs, and time of year varies depending on area of interest. While the majority of our collection is vertical photography, we also have oblique imagery of the Portland area from the 1980’s to the late 1990’s. 

The amount of detail you will be able to see depends on the scale at which the photography was flown, the quality of the film used, and the resolution of the scans we make. Many of our aerial photographs are at 1:12,000; 1:20,000; or 1:24,000 scale. The formula for ground pixel dimension is: inverse scale of photography ÷ 12 inches ÷ dpi resolution = feet ground distance per pixel.

The minimum sized object you'll be able to detect in a 1:20,000 scale image scanned at 600 dpi is 2.8 feet (that is 20000/12/600) and at 1200 dpi is 1.4 feet. This is theoretical and does not consider the quality/resolution of the film.

Yes! Fill out the our request form. Public requests may be submitted by private individuals, companies, government agencies, non-profits, etc. A fee is charged to defray staff research and handling costs. Contact us with any questions. 

Use the Aerial Photography Research Service Request form to submit your request. Be sure to provide a map, so our researchers can quickly and correctly locate the aerial photography you request.

Yes. Please use the Aerial Photography Research Service form to get digital scans of aerial photographs or request an appointment to view photographs in Knight Library. We charge non-University of Oregon researchers a Research Fee to recover costs of identifying, retrieving, and scanning photographs from our collection.

Current students, faculty, and staff at the University of Oregon may request to view aerial photography for class work, teaching, or research related to their work at the University of Oregon. We do not charge research fees for academic requests. Academic requestors may work with UO Libraries staff to scan photographs in the Libraries or have Library staff deliver digital copies.

Typical turnaround is 3-4 business days. However, large areas or in depth research may require more time.

Public requesters receive scans of photographs in our collection that show their site and adjacent area. Scans are delivered via web download or mailed on a DVD if requested. File format is JPEG unless TIFF, or PDF are specified. Other file formats may be available upon request.

Academic requesters are notified when we have pulled the aerial photographs of your site. We will provide you with scans if a limited number of photographs are requested. You may request to work with the physical photographs in Knight Library under staff supervision.

If additional information is needed, indicate that in the Special Instructions area of the request form. There is no charge for providing basic additional information such as scale, exact date, and agency that flew the photographs. Exact date and scale are not always available. If you prefer a scale or range of scales, indicate it in the Special Instructions section of the request form.

When submitting your request, answer "Yes" to the question "Do you want to be contacted before the item is scanned?" This tells us to pull the photos and contact you before scanning them. Do this when you are unsure of which years you would like for your site or if you would like to know pricing before the final processing of your request. You may make an appointment to come in and view the photographs under supervision of trained Library staff. You will not be allowed to scan or photocopy the items for the protection of the collection. If you request to view photography but do not purchase scans, you will still be charged the $35 set-up fee.

We provide Online access to images we scan for 90 days. After 90 days they are removed from the file server. Please download and save the photos to your computer when you receive the link we send you. We cannot guarantee access beyond the 90 days without charging to re-do the research.

Many of our researchers are doing environmental site assessment research reports for land purchase or development permits, and this is terminology typically used for that research. A Phase 1 request is for historic aerial images with approximately 10 year intervals between photos. Where we have a choice of images from different flights, we select the best resolution and quality. A Phase 2 environmental site assessment calls for approximately 2 photos per decade (every 5-7 years). Requirements for a Phase 3 are all available imagery.

The standard file name format is [Year of Flight]_[Project Code]_[Roll #]-[Frame #]

You may store your images indefinitely, derive new data from them, and give the photos to your own clients. We understand that copies of the photos are included in environmental assessment reports and other research products. We do not consider this to be publishing the photos.

If you would like to publish a photo in a book, journal, or online, please contact the Aerial Photography Research Service to negotiate a publication license for our imagery. The images provided are for your personal use and storage. The University maintains copyright over the electronic scans we make and for some of the source imagery.

If you plan to publish, display, or distribute images of our materials, you must receive permission and you will be assessed a use fee. If you are charged a use fee, you will also receive an explicit statement of the permissible uses. Use the Aerial Photography Research Service's Permissions Request Form. Any additional or altered use requires a new negotiation of the rights and the use fee. Use fees are our source of income for preserving and providing access to our collections. For more information about permission requests and allowable uses, see Special Collections' guidelines for Image and Permission Requests.

Items used must be attributed in a caption, citation, or other appropriate method. Guidelines for attribution will be provided in the statement of permissible uses.

Images in the Aerial Photography Collection are subject to copyright laws. If an individual or entity intends to use copyrighted material in excess of fair use as determined by U.S. copyright law (title 17, United States Code), it is incumbent upon the researcher(s) to seek permission from the copyright holder(s) prior to use. Failure to do so may constitute copyright infringement.

University of Oregon Libraries Aerial Photography Collection includes materials in the following broad copyright categories:

• Items in the public domain.
• Items for which the copyright is owned by the University of Oregon. Contact Aerial Photography Research Service staff for permission to use.
• Items for which the copyright holder is an entity other than the University of Oregon. It is the responsibility of the user to determine copyright status and seek permission from the rights owner(s) where appropriate.

You may store your images indefinitely, derive new data from them, and give the photographs to your clients. Copies of the photos may be included in environmental site assessment reports and other research products paid for by your client. We do not consider this to be "publishing" the photos.

If you would like to publish a photograph in a book or online, please contact the Map and Aerial Photography Library to negotiate a publication license for our imagery. While the digital images provided are yours to keep, the University maintains copyright over the electronic versions and some of the source imagery.