NAIP - Where to get and how to use?

[cmpbellsjc 2,745]

Hey guys I have a question about using NAIP data.For the past year or so I have been using SBuilderX to make small photo areas. While it is really easy to use, I find it harder and very time consuming when trying to do large areas, like a whole city.I have been reading that some developers, like Sim-Savvy use NAIP data, which from what I understand is free and available to anyone.I went to this site http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/apfoapp?area=h...g&topic=nai and saw a link to this site http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GatewayHome.html , which is where I am assuming you download the areas you want.However, I see a warning here:saying:WARNING: This is a United States Department of Agriculture computer system, which may be accessed and used only for official Government business (or as otherwise permitted by regulation) by authorized personnel. Unauthorized access or use of this computer system may subject violators to criminal, civil, and/or administrative action. All information on this computer system may be intercepted, recorded, read, copied, and disclosed by and to authorized personnel for official purposes, including criminal investigations. Access or use of this computer system by any person, whether authorized or unauthorized, constitutes consent to these terms. So I am confused on where you actually download the imagery without breaking the law.That site looks like it makes it pretty easy to find and download the stuff you want, but I dont want to break the law by using that site since its not for official Government business.The second question was, once you get the scenery in hand, can you use SBuilderX to compile it?Thanks in advance for help with this.Sean

[GaryGB 10]

Hi Sean:You might find some helpful info on the NAIP imagery available via USDA in this thread:http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthrea...6087&page=2IMHO, don't worry about the warning message to scare away would be hackers and terrorists; just register for a free account, then after you have an account profile, you'll be able to browse content.Downloadable Orders are posted at an URL that you will be sent via e-mail after the USDA geeks get finished assembling them for you.The USDA may have a somewhat eccentric website compared to the USGS or other GIS download sites, but they do have some imagery that USGS may not have, and they are fairly prompt. :( Good luck with your endeavors ! :( GaryGB

[cmpbellsjc 2,745]

Thanks for the link Gary, I will take a look.

[woodsonl 0]

Sim-Savvy here. I try to get the NAIP aerials from the individual states themselves which consider and post the materials as public domain. I try to get county mosaics (CCM's) but cannot always. Many states are starting to put out higher resolution aerials now that you won't find at the gateway. But that is where I go if I can't get them elsewhere. I am registered with them to download and I have a new helper who just registered the other day and nobody stopped us from downloading or checked to see if we were elegible. So to be honest I don't know what the heck. Some 3rd parties are selling the NAIP aerials for about $2500 a state. The gateway has a 4 gig limit that is annoying. If a large county contains 3 (1.5 gig) files to get the job done you can't download, sorry. Twice I have obtained some missing pieces by contacting the GIS person at the state site & they have graciously sent them to me. I don't use a 3rd party program like SBuilder, I use Globalmapper to spit out GeoTiff's & just drop an .inf file on resample. A 2500 sq mi area (50x50mi) takes about 2 hrs to download. That's my step one. Because they are never GeoTiff's in Geographic Lat/Long WGS84 datum I go to step two and using Globalmapper generate these geotiff's back out taking about 8 hrs for that same area. Then step three compiling the bgl takes about two more hours. So about 12 hrs for a county (2500 sq mi) times about 40 for the state of Colorado. And that's downsizing to 2 meter from 1 meter. Multiply by four for 1 meter. And what about size? Well I just did West Virginia and it went from 28 gigs of compressed .sid's to 48 gigs worth of Geotiff's and back down to 3.5 gigs as bgl's. I keep three machines going at all times. Contact me if you would like more information on how I generate the scenery . Thanks Larry

[rhumbaflappy 113]

So I am confused on where you actually download the imagery without breaking the law.That site looks like it makes it pretty easy to find and download the stuff you want, but I dont want to break the law by using that site since its not for official Government business.Sean

or as otherwise permitted by regulation When you signup for Level 1 access login, the website prevents you from downloading unauthorised content... so there is no need for worry. You can't download anything not permitted for use.The warning is for hackers trying to get into US government web servers.Dick

[scott967 45]

It sounds from the description that these are in DOQQ chunks, so I guess they are projected to UTM, and as Larry says you need to reproject into geo for fs9 or fsx resample tool.scott s..

[cmpbellsjc 2,745]

Sim-Savvy here. I try to get the NAIP aerials from the individual states themselves which consider and post the materials as public domain. I try to get county mosaics (CCM's) but cannot always. Many states are starting to put out higher resolution aerials now that you won't find at the gateway. But that is where I go if I can't get them elsewhere. I am registered with them to download and I have a new helper who just registered the other day and nobody stopped us from downloading or checked to see if we were elegible. So to be honest I don't know what the heck. Some 3rd parties are selling the NAIP aerials for about $2500 a state. The gateway has a 4 gig limit that is annoying. If a large county contains 3 (1.5 gig) files to get the job done you can't download, sorry. Twice I have obtained some missing pieces by contacting the GIS person at the state site & they have graciously sent them to me. I don't use a 3rd party program like SBuilder, I use Globalmapper to spit out GeoTiff's & just drop an .inf file on resample. A 2500 sq mi area (50x50mi) takes about 2 hrs to download. That's my step one. Because they are never GeoTiff's in Geographic Lat/Long WGS84 datum I go to step two and using Globalmapper generate these geotiff's back out taking about 8 hrs for that same area. Then step three compiling the bgl takes about two more hours. So about 12 hrs for a county (2500 sq mi) times about 40 for the state of Colorado. And that's downsizing to 2 meter from 1 meter. Multiply by four for 1 meter. And what about size? Well I just did West Virginia and it went from 28 gigs of compressed .sid's to 48 gigs worth of Geotiff's and back down to 3.5 gigs as bgl's. I keep three machines going at all times. Contact me if you would like more information on how I generate the scenery . Thanks Larry

Thanks for the info Larry. I didn't know it was that time consuming. I guess that anyway you do it, whether it be that way or doing small chunks at a time, its going to take a while.The only reason I was asking in the first place is because I was trying to figure a way to do a whole county by downloading the whole thing, rather than using SBuilderX to zoom in and then pan around to create a map. I have no intention of distributing anything, so using SbuilderX is fine, but as with any method time consuming.Larry, now that you have done so much of the US on your site, when you finish the US, do you have any planes to do any high detail areas? What I mean exactly is that since all of your stuff is day only, do you have plans to do city specific areas with night textures? Honestly, I love the screen shots of your work, but not having night textures is the only thing that keeps me from buying it. However if you started offering small areas that included night textures I would be a buyer.RegardsSean

[woodsonl 0]

I will see what it takes to do night textures. If you tell me which county you want I will do it free and put it up for download. An area 50mi X 50mi (2500 sq mi) comes out at about 500megs. My other samples are about that size. High resolution aerials are just now becoming available. Several eastern states I'm working on have them up for download but they come in thousands of files, no mosaics yet.The 10,000 sq miles of Northern Utah Hi-Res that I released last month has become part of the product. And all future Hi-Res that I obtain will be sent free to customers as well. Anyone can contact me directly at woodsonl@sisna.com concerning a free custom sample.

[cmpbellsjc 2,745]

I will see what it takes to do night textures. If you tell me which county you want I will do it free and put it up for download. An area 50mi X 50mi (2500 sq mi) comes out at about 500megs. My other samples are about that size. High resolution aerials are just now becoming available. Several eastern states I'm working on have them up for download but they come in thousands of files, no mosaics yet.The 10,000 sq miles of Northern Utah Hi-Res that I released last month has become part of the product. And all future Hi-Res that I obtain will be sent free to customers as well. Anyone can contact me directly at woodsonl@sisna.com concerning a free custom sample.

Well I was interested in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties in with both day and night textures. The package from MegaSceneryEarth for this area is really bad.

[woodsonl 0]

Well I was interested in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties in with both day and night textures. The package from MegaSceneryEarth for this area is really bad.

I should have that area next month & I'll contact you then. I'll also see about the night textures. Thanks Larry

[cmpbellsjc 2,745]

Thanks Larry. Let me know, send me a PM or something since I dont always check the scenery design forum.