Getting an aerial photo for network coding

Four resources:

(1) http://mapper.acme.com
      http://www.terraserver-usa.com/
      http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/default.aspx

• Black and white areial photo
• Known resolution as small as 1 meter (the resolution you picked can be used in Paramics directly)
• Get photos from http://mapper.acme.com with a maximum of 2000x2000 size and 1 meter per pixel. 

(2) http://www.maps.com/

• Colored areial photo
• Unknown resolution
• The aerial photo can be saved directly

Data source is http://www.globexplorer.com/, where aerial photos can be bought directly.

(3) DOT

For California: Caltrans users can access DHIPP through its intranet website. DHIPP provides aerial photos for all freeways in California.

(4) GIS database

UC Santa Barabra has developed a free tool to do the conversion.

Notes:

1. Method to get a bigger aerial photo is to combine several small ones together using image processing software, such as Photoshop.
2. If you use aerial photo from http://www.maps.com to code your network, you need to calibrate the resolution of the photo.
3. The aerial photo is not enough for providing all geometry information, such as number of lanes. You still need them from government agency.