The National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) was coordinated by the USGS as an interagency project to acquire cloud-free aerial photographs at an altitude of 20,000 feet above mean terrain elevation. The photographs were taken with a 6-inch focal length lens at a scale of 1:40,000. Coverage over the conterminous United States includes both black-and-white (BW) and color infrared (CIR) aerial photographs. Film type and extent of coverage were determined by available funds and operational requirements. The NAPP program, which was operational from 1987 to 2007, consists of more than 1.3 million images. Photographs were acquired on 9-inch film and were centered over quarters of USGS 7.5-minute quadrangles.To view historical imagery availability by county please visit the Historical Availability of Imagery map.To view more NAPP imagery visit the NAPP Historical Imagery Portfolio app.For ordering information please contact the GEO Customer Service Section at geo.sales@usda.gov.

January 2002

This collection of geo-referenced photos vary with regards to spatial accuracy and resolution. Use the hotlinks below to learn the details of each collection or review MassGIS's new story map explaining all the vintages of aerial photos. Tip: Reviewing that story map might be an easier way to digest the information rather than reviewing the more formal/standard metadata accessible via the hotlinks below.Within the web map certain layers will only be visible at particular zoom extents. If a layer is unavailable to turn on/off, then zoom in or out as needed until the layer becomes active.All photos, except year 1938, are captured during leaf-off (typically late winter/early spring). With the exception of the 1938 & 1990s collection, all photos are in true color. The 1938 & 1990s are in black and white. With regards to Dukes County (which includes the Islands of Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands) these are the applicable years of acquisition for those State-wide collections that span multiple years: "1990s collection" -- Only year 1999 for Dukes County"2001-2003 collection" -- Only year 2003 for Dukes County"2008-2009 collection" - Only year 2009 for Dukes County"2011-2012 collection" - Only year 2011 for Dukes County"2013-2014 collection" - Only year 2014 for Dukes CountyPhoto Details (Metadata)1938 Black & White Aerials (georeferenced & hosted by Harvard Forest)1990s Black & White Aerials2001-2003 Color Aerials2005 Color Aerials2008-2009 Color Aerials2011-2012 Color Aerials2013-2014 Color Aerials2015 Satellite Images - Extra Details2019 Color Aerials2021 Color Aerials2023 Color AerialsParcel Lines -- These data are NOT survey grade and are intended for general reference only. The parcel data comply with the MassGIS Level 3 parcel data standard. Each town in Dukes County hires a GIS Consultant to prepare their digital parcel lines and to link the properties to the respective records from the town's assessing database. The linkage is static and not updated in real-time - it is only 'as current' as the day the data was exported from the assessing database. The Martha's Vineyard Commission does not edit nor maintain any assessing data or parcel lines/property bounds. Each town within Dukes County updates their digital parcel data when they see fit (most, typically, update annually). Click on a specific town in this map to see when their parcel data was updated and by whom. Similarly, clicking on a parcel in this "MA Aerial Photos Since 1990s web map" will show you the applicable Fiscal Year the assessing info was exported.

This reference contains the imagery data used in the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Orthophotos, raw imagery, and scanned aerial photos are common files held here. High-quality existing photography developed by MassGIS was used as the base for the vegetation map (MassGIS 2007). A true color orthophoto mosaic was developed from a set of digital 1:5,000 scale medium resolution true color aerial images that are considered the new "base map" for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by MassGIS and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA). The photography for the entire commonwealth was captured in April 2005 when deciduous trees were mostly bare and the ground was generally free of snow. The image type is 4-band (RGBN) natural color (Red, Green, Blue) and Near infrared in 8 bits (values ranging 0–255) per band format. Key information for the mosaic is summarized in Table 1. Appendix A contains additional detailed information regarding the aerial photography acquired from MASS GIS.

These data represent tree cover for two cities (Chelsea and the urban core of Holyoke) in Massachusetts. Tree cover was manually delineated on aerial imagery from 1952, 1971, 2003 and 2014. Also included are neighborhood boundaries for both of these study locations.Urban foresters assess urban tree canopy cover trends using remotely sensed imagery as a way to provide data for municipalities to set or maintain goals for tree canopy. However, these assessments typically do not take into account historical and socioeconomical dynamics of tree cover change over many decades. These land cover change data were collected to assess the rates and drivers of tree canopy cover change, using Holyoke and Chelsea to investigate the processes of tree cover change in post-industrial cities. Understanding historical drivers of tree canopy cover change can be used to inform multi-decadal urban tree canopy assessments and the creation of targeted, feasible urban tree canopy goals at neighborhood and city scales. These historical analyses can help urban natural resource managers to better understand how to protect and expand their cities’ urban tree canopy over time.For more information about these data see Healy et al. (2022).

These data were published on 02/22/2022. Minor metadata updates were made on 04/25/2023.

The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (MA CZM) launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast by compiling a database of historical (1800's-1989) shoreline positions and shoreline change maps. Trends of shoreline position over long and short-term timescales provide information to landowners, managers, and potential buyers about possible future impacts to coastal resources and infrastructure. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. In 2013 two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts were added using 2008-2009 color aerial orthoimagery and 2007 topographic lidar datasets obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The 2013 update also included a 2000 lidar shoreline covering most of the open-ocean coast, as well as a 2001 shoreline for the South Shore coastal region. In 2018, ...

This dataset includes shorelines from 161 years ranging from 1848 to 2009 within the Cape Cod Bay coastal region from the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich to Long Point in Provincetown. Shorelines were compiled from T-sheets and air-photos obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (MA CZM), and lidar obtained from the US Geological Survey (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change for the MA CZM Shoreline Change Project. Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates. For publication purposes, the shoreline data for Massachusetts were organized by region in order match the extent of previously published uncertainty files used in shoreline change calculations. Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (MA CZM) and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). .

NOTE: Harvard Forest did not provide written metadata. Rather, this metadata was written by the Martha's Vineyard Commission based on a phone conversation with Harvard Forest staff in Dec. 2023.Utilizing Harvard Forest's "Ancient Woodlands" data of 2019, the Martha's Vineyard Commission ran the Identity geoprocessing tool with that dataset and the MVC's 12/22/2023 version of the Open Space Conservation data for Martha's Vineyard. This process retained all of the Ancient Woodlands data and superimposed the attributes of [Level of Protection] and [OS_ID] into the Ancient Woodlands polygons. This permits one to readily analyze the data to see where Ancient Forests are currently protected in perpetuity, etc. Please see the Description section for background about Harvard Forest's delineation of the Ancient Woodlands.A domain table is provided which explains the Level of Protection codes. The [OS_ID] is a numeric ID which links back to the MVC's Open Space Conservation dataset. OS_ID is a unique identifier within that dataset. The numbers before the hyphen is the Town ID. 62 = Chilmark, 89 = Edgartown, 104 = Aquinnah, 221 = Oak Bluffs, 296 = Tisbury, 327 = West Tisbury.The Ancient Woodlands data were produced by Harvard Forest in Dec. 2019. Data for Martha's Vineyard were received from Harvard Forest in November of 2023. Looking at historic maps and older aerial photographs, Harvard Forest noted for 4 time periods when forest was present on the map or photo. Locations where forest was present for all 4 time periods, were regarded as 'Ancient Woodlands'. The 4 time periods reviewed were: circa 1850, circa 1890, 1938, 1993. Then the data were updated, based on Google's November 2018 photos, for recent development or new agricultural areas. Areas where development or agricultural fields existed were removed from the Ancient Woodlands dataset. The areas delineated in this dataset, represent Ancient Woodlands present as of year-end 2018. Please note: Ancient Woodlands are not the same as "Old Growth Forest".The specific citation for the 1850 and 1890 map are unknown. Harvard Forest georeferenced those maps in ArcGIS software. The 1938 black and white aerial photographs were georeferenced by a consultant hired by Harvard Forest. As an aside FYI, the 1993 photographs (color infrared? black & white?) is the same year of photography which was used for The Nature Conservancy's vegetation delineation of Martha's Vineyard. Not sure if Harvard Forest used the exact same photos as the TNC project but the time period is the same.Harvard Forest is in the process of analyzing the potential ecological benefit of these Ancient Woodlands. Preliminary results show these area have more huckleberry than non-Ancient Woodland areas.The Martha's Vineyard Commission did convert the Harvard Forest Ancient Woodlands data from multi-part polygons to single-part polygons prior to running the Identity analysis.