RECOVERING PORTUGAL AERIAL IMAGES REPOSITORY

摘要

The principal users of aerial photography have always been the military and mapping agencies. Aerial photographs were considered for several decades as a means to an end and were no longer interesting once the map was compiled. In the era of digital photogrammetry and internet the photograph itself became more important. Nevertheless, traditional and web map producers strive to deliver up-to-date products and old photographs just don't fit in the concept. Other users of aerial photos are found in the areas of geology, geography, history, and archaeology. These are rather interested in old aerial photographs and in series of aerial photos of a particular site or region. In Portugal, aerial surveys for mapping purposes might have started by the end of the thirties of the 20th century as documented by the oldest collection of vertical aerial photos existing in the archives of the Instituto Geografico do Exercito (IGeoE) in Lisbon. Being the oldest visual witnesses of the country, the relevance of the information contained in those photographs is unquestionable. The objective of this project is precisely the recovering of this important national aerial photographic heritage that hibernates in analogue format in the archives, in order to make it accessible and explorable by the scientific community and by the general public.