This dataset is a collection of species identification values that pair with cropped images of avian targets.

Oakland County has utilized Aerial Photographs for mapping purposes for decades. By comparing photographs taken at different times, county cartographers can create accurate and detailed maps of ever-changing features on the Earth’s surface. The process of comparing different aerial photographs and determining accurate measurements is called photogrammetry. Maps created by using aerial photographs are called orthophoto maps. Take a trip back to 1940 and explore our County 70 years ago, or “live in the now” and check out our super-detailed 3-inch resolution 2023 imagery!

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Dataset Abstract Aerial photography is considered an important management tool in agriculture. Aerial photography allows researchers to detect spatial variability and understand the causes of the variability such as planter skips, drought stress, weeds and water erosion. In agricultural research it allows researchers to differentiate healthy vegetation from unhealthy and access plant biomass and moisture levels. The photographs are also useful to document trends and changes in the landscape. original data source http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/datasets/44

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (PIRO) in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is home to many wildlife species that depend on forest canopy connectivity to thrive. Park biologists are interested to learn how forest loss in the late 2000s and early 2010s caused by beech bark disease (BBD) is affecting these wildlife species. Biologists need to know where forest canopy gaps exist and identify where the greatest canopy connectivity loss has occurred prior to research observing and collecting data on wildlife species.This dataset will show biologists forest connectivity shortly after BBD infection occurred at PIRO as derived from object-based image analysis and aerial imagery acquired in 2005.

All historical imagery obtained from Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) in .jpg and .tif format, in NAD 1983 HARN State Plane Michigan South FIPS 2113 (feet).1950 - 1980Original images were collected as hardcopy 9x9 contact prints. SEMCOG had a vendor scan the images, and they loosely align with the road network in Southeast Michigan, but were not accurately georeferenced or orthorectified. Features appeared shifted 50m - 300m from actual location in most cases. Further post-processing was done by the LSA IT GIS team at University of Michigan. Images were georeferenced with a projective transformation to more closely align to the George Reserve boundary, and mosaicked when necessary (1950 & 1980) with color balancing.1985 - 2015No additional post-processing done by the LSA IT GIS team. The 2005, 2010 and 2015 imagery are all 2-ft resolution orthophotos. The 2015 imagery (MrSID files) contains a near-infrared band. For more information see the SEMCOG aerial imagery page: https://semcog.org/aerial-imagery.Please cite SEMCOG (https://semcog.org) when using this imagery and derived products.

The project consisted of color digital aerial imagery acquisition and color digital orthophoto production at 0.5-foot ground sample distance (GSD) for Oakland County (approximately 907 square miles). The aerial photography plan and the 2, 500 foot x 2, 500 foot digital orthophoto tiles were based on the SEMCOG approved Tile system, based upon the State Plane Grid.

In the Spring of 2010, Southeast Michigan Council of Government (SEMCOG) obtained new orthoimagery for all seven of the membership counties - Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw, Wayne, and St. Clair.

Historic aerial imagery for the Great Lakes shoreline of Lake Michigan was provided by the Bay-Lake Region Planning Commission (BLRPC). This imagery was captured in November 1980 by Aero-Metric Engineering, Inc. and archived by the BLRPC by Range/Township on mylar sheets at a scale of 1"=800'. Under contract to NOAA, Dewberry obtained the mylar sheets from BLRPC, scanned them at 600 DPI, and ge...

This hosted feature layer is provided by the USDA Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) and shows image acquisition dates for 2020 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery for Michigan. This date index is state based and contains a polygon for each exposure used in the creation of the imagery. Click on a polygon to find out more information about any area on the image. Attribute information includes the following: IDATE - Image acquisition date SDATE - Polygon start date/time - local 24 hour clock. The start/end time will be for the collection of the individual polygon (will be the same for frame based systems)EDATE - Polygon end date/time - local 24 hour clock. The start/end time will be for the collection of the individual polygon (will be the same for frame based systems)BCON - Color type - possible values are NC (natural color), CIR (color infrared), and M4B (4-band)CAM_TYPE - Camera type (Digital or film)CAM_MAN - Camera ManufacturerCAM_MOD - Camera modelHARD_FIRM - Camera HW and FW version which provides top level information specific to the camera systemSENSNUM - Sensor or lens serial numberAC_TYPE - Aircraft type - ICAO designation (i.e. C441 for a Cessna 441 Conquest II), airborne platforms only blank attribute for space-based systemsACTAILNUM - Aircraft tail number - airborne platforms only a blank attribute for space-based systemsSHAPE_AREA - Polygon area (square meters)RED_RNGE - Red electromagnetic spectrum - spectrum range in nano meters (604-664)GREEN_RNGE - Green electromagnetic spectrum - spectrum range in nano meters (533-587)BLUE_RNGE - Blue electromagnetic spectrum - spectrum range in nano meters (420-492)NIR_RNGE - Near infrared electromagnetic spectrum - spectrum range in nano meters (683-920)

BY USING THIS WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT THEREIN, YOU AGREE TO THETERMS OF USE.Under contract with the State of Michigan, Vexcel was contracted to produce and deliver natural Color (RGB) orthophotos for numerous areas of interest in support of Michigan's Statewide Partnership Program. Areas of interest were defined by the State. All aerial imagery was acquired using ADS direct digital sensors at an altitude sufficient for the production of digital orthophotos with a 1.0-foot or .5-foot pixel resolution as requested. Following acquisition of imagery data, survey ground control coordinates were used in-conjunction with Airborne GPS and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) information to establish precise spatial positioning of the image data through the process of Analytical Aero-Triangulation (AT). Upon completion of AT, the imagery was rectified to the best available digital elevation model (DEM), whether from the USGS, other high quality DEM provided by the participating government in GeoTIFF or other compatible format, or new ADS stereo imagery compiled and edited surface model using Pictovera software. The resultant rectified imagery was analyzed and radiometrically adjusted to provide the state with optimal color and tonal appearance. Manually-placed seamlines were generated to mosaic imagery from adjacent flightlines. Following mosaicking and color-balancing, multiple QA/QC processes were performed to insure optimal data quality was achieved prior to tiling the data to 5,000 by 5,000 pixel extents. All ortho tiles were clipped to an AOI shapefile (buffered to 400-meters) boundaries, as supplied by the State of Michigan. Final ortho tiles were delivered in the requested projection/units and in GeoTIFF format.

Observations and subtle shifts of vegetation communities in western Lake Erie have USGS researchers concerned about the potential for Grass Carp to alter these vegetation communities. Broad-scale surveys of vegetation using remote sensing and GIS mapping, coupled with on-the-ground samples in key locations will permit assessment of the effect Grass Carp may have already had on aquatic vegetation communities and establish baseline conditions for assessing future effects. Existing aerial imagery was used with object-based image analysis to detect and map aquatic vegetation in the western basin of Lake Erie.

2 foot aerial imagery of Washtenaw County, Michigan from March 2024. Zipped file includes a TIF image. View the imagery in our MapWashtenaw application. Contact Washtenaw County GIS or the MapStore for more information or to purchase a higher resolution.

This dataset provides a land cover map focused on peatland ecosystems in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The map was produced at 12.5-m resolution using a multi-sensor fusion (optical and L-band SAR) approach with imagery from Landsat-5 TM and ALOS PALSAR collected between 2007 and 2011. A random forest classifier trained with polygons delineated from field data and aerial photography was used to determine pixel classes. Accuracy assessment based on field-sampled sites show high overall map accuracy (92%).

Created in 2019 by using aerial imagery. Originally created for the 2020 Bicycle and Mobility Plan for Southeast Michigan. Continuously updated by SEMCOG staff and uploaded to the open data portal quarterly.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) collects aerial photography of the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) floodplain on a regular basis. These data are used to support the Center's long-term goals of understanding the UMRS and developing useful products for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP). In 2000, 1:16,000-scale true color aerial photos were collected on the Mississippi River from Cairo, IL to Minneapolis, MN and the on Illinois River from its confluence with the Mississippi near Grafton, IL to Lake Michigan/Chicago, IL. The photos were collected using a 60% stereo overlap between photos in the same flight line and a 30% overlap between flight lines. At the time this document was prepared, UMESC was in the process of scanning, georeferencing and compiled approximately every other photo into georeferenced mosaics for the navigation pools. These mosaics are served as compressed .sid images, so they'll be easier to download vial the Internet. Note: While the photos have been georeferenced, they have not been orthorectified.

BY USING THIS WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT THEREIN, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF USE. Oakland County is included in the Southeast Michigan Regional Orthoimagery project encompassing approximately 3613 square miles of the Detroit metropolitan area and surrounding counties. Aerial imagery was collected using an Vexcel Ultracam digital sensor. The orthoimages are composed of 4-bands (RGB and near-infrared) and are tiled to a 1500 meter x 1500 meter grid. The orthoimagery is true color with a resolution of 0.3-meter per pixel. Orthoimagery tiles were delivered in Tiff format. A total of 1170 tiles that overlap Oakland County were adjusted by USGS to mimic State Plane (2113) International Feet using a custom Python Script. The adjustment was done tile-by-tile, so some 'no data' areas exist at the edges of the tiles. All imagery was taken in the spring of 2008.

BY USING THIS WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT THEREIN, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF USE. This imagery is a black and white countywide dataset of Oakland County, Michigan. The imagery was collected in 4 flying days: 04/10/06, 04/11/06, 04/14/06, and 04/15/06 using a Z/I Imaging Digital Mapping Camera (DMC) digital aerial camera system. The flight altitude for the project was 4600 feet above mean terrain with a ground sample distance of .5 feet. Ayres Associates completed an aerotriangulation (AT) solution using Air Borne GPS data, surveyed ground control points, and IMU data. A fully analytical simultaneous least squares adjustment was completed for the entire block of aerial photography using Intergraph ISAT software. All AT processing was done on a digital photogrammetric workstation and the resulting AT solution is suitable for rectification of the aerial photography and supports ASPRS Class 1 mapping standards.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens - Historical Aerial Imagery (1963). The source of this image is unknown.

Images were collected using a remotely piloted unoccupied aerial system (UAS) over the bluffs of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in Ludington rural area, Mason County, MI. Images were collected in two separate surveys conducted on July 11, 2019, and July 14, 2021, using a DJI Phantom 3 and 4 PRO commercial UAS respectively operated by the University of Toledo. The images cover an extent between north of Chauvez Rd. to the south and north of W. Bradshaw Rd. to the north. The purpose of the survey was to monitor active bluff erosion in the area. The images are presented here in zipped files grouped by type of collection, nadir and oblique. The images were collected in JPG format and include default Exif metadata with GPS date, time, longitude and latitude, and other fields. These files were used in structure-from-motion (SfM) processing to obtain georeferenced 3D point data. The 3D derived data are in open source compressed lidar data exchange laz format and were created from the collected images using SfM photogrammetry software. A description of the laz format and links to software tools for using laz files are provided at the USGS website: https://www.usgs.gov/news/3d-elevation-program-distributing-lidar-data-laz-format.The point cloud was classified in never classified (class 0), ground (class 2), medium vegetation (class4), an water (class 9).

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The primary purpose of this data is to assist Oakland County Economic Development & Community Affairs, local municipalities, land trusts, and other agencies in prioritizing conservation efforts in order to improve natural resource-based decision making. The information is used to help find opportunities to establish an open space system of linked natural areas throughout Oakland County. Specifically, this data serves as a resource for cartographic output and spatial analysis.

This layer is a spatial representation of specific patches of natural vegetation within larger intact landscapes that have the potential to harbor high quality natural communities and/or for harboring rare plants and animals. These patches represent places on the landscape that appear to have experienced the least amount of impact or degradation from human activities since the early 1800s.

These potential natural areas (PNAs) represent patches of various natural land cover that also vary in size, quality, and landscape context. The natural land cover types within these PNAs also vary by type and quality. The objective is to identify specific patches of natural land cover (forest, wetland) within priority PNAs, that have a high likelihood of exhibiting ecological intactness and integrity.

The polygons contained in this feature class were derived from data developed for the Oakland County Potential Natural Areas Assessment: 2017 Report. Oakland County's digital aerial photography from 1940, 1963, and 2015 along with the Oakland County NaturalArea2017 coverage were the primary data sources used to create this data. Key attributes include Habitat and Notes.

The term "potential natural area" is not to be confused with the legal term "dedicated Natural Area" as described in Part 351, Wilderness and Natural Areas, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act of 1994 which gives land special legal protection.

For more detailed information, please view the Oakland County Potential Natural Areas Assessment: 2017 Report prepared by: John Paskus, Associate Program Leader - Conservation Helen Enander, Information Technologist I Michigan Natural Features Inventory P.O. Box 13036, Lansing, MI 48901 (Report Number 2017-17) at https://www.oakgov.com/it/gis/Documents/metadata/Oakland_2017_PNA_Final_Report.pdf. This document provides essential information for the attributes and procedures used to create the features in the dataset.

The purpose of this assessment was to delineate the highest quality patches of natural land cover within high scoring potential natural areas (PNAs) that demonstrate the greatest opportunity for conservation value. Conservation value can be defined by a number of different factors, such as: the presence of rare and declining species, high plant and/or animal species diversity, structural diversity, presence of biological legacies such as large dead and downed trees, intact ecological processes, intact hydrology, and/or lack of key threats. The problem is that all of these factors are almost impossible to detect from aerial imagery, and almost always require field inspection.

However, understanding that there are limitations with remote analysis, this assessment was based on aerial imagery from several different time periods: 1940, 1963 and 2015. The earliest time period available for aerial imagery of Oakland County was from the 1940. As with most of the Lower Peninsula, Oakland County had been significantly altered by European settler activities by the turn of the 20th century. This is the best representation of patches of forests and wetlands that appear to still be intact almost 80 years ago. A key habitat type that is missing from this landscape analysis is grassland. Unfortunately, native grassland systems such as prairie, savanna, and barrens, were virtually eliminated by the early 1900s throughout Michigan, and the remaining small, isolated patches of native grassland are essentially impossible to identify from old, low quality, black and white aerial photographs.

Due to the fact that there were not enough funds or resources to delineate and characterize every patch of natural land cover within every PNA, the first step in the process was to identify PNAs with the highest potential for conserving ecological value. That was determined by three key factors: 1) PNA total scores (with enhanced criteria), 2) percentage of private land (higher the better), and 3) proximity to public land (closer the better). First, all enhanced criteria total scores greater than 15 were identified. From that selection, PNAs with greater than fifty percent private ownership were selected. This was determined using the Oakland County 2015 conservation lands database. These were placed in the first priority category for natural community assessment. Once those were selected, PNAs adjacent to or in close proximity to publically owned lands were the first to be evaluated for high quality natural land cover. There were a total of 70 first priority PNAs. Once these were assessed, a second set of PNAs were identified. Although these PNAs also had high total scores (based on the enhanced criteria), they also had a higher percentage of public land; in some cases they were 100 percent publically owned. A key factor for prioritization was the amount of privately owned land (the higher the better), and whether or not the area had been surveyed within the past 20 years. The majority of the highest ranking second priority PNAs had some form of regional or local public ownership (as opposed to state ownership, such as state park and recreation areas). A total of 18 second priority PNAs was identified.

Once the priority PNAs were identified, the next step in the process was to determine which patches of natural land cover within these PNAs, had a high probability of still being in good condition. This was done by identifying all natural land cover patches from the 1940 aerial photographs. Once these patches were identified, the next step was to eliminate all portions of these patches that demonstrated major alterations based on the 1963 aerial photographs. In addition, forest patches or portions of forest patches that did not show up as forest on the digital USGS quadrangle topographic maps were also removed. All remaining patches of habitat were considered high quality, and delineated using heads up digitizing. They were also attributed with primary land cover type, size, and notes. Primary land cover types used for this analysis included: 1) lowland deciduous forest, 2) lowland mixed forest, 3) lowland conifer forest, 4) non-forested wetland, 5) mixed wetland complex, and 6) upland forest. These cover types were chosen because of the high confidence levels for delineating each type in this portion of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. If an MNFI Scientist was able to identify more specific natural community types based on topography, soils, hydrology, aspect distinct aerial imagery signature, or other factors, that information was also included in the notes field of the database.


Reference Reports:

Shiawassee & Huron Headwaters Resource Preservation Project - March 2000 Project Staff: Carlisle Wortman & Associates - Richard Carlisle, PCP, and Carey Nyberg Land Information Access Association - Joe VanderMeulen Michigan Natural Features Inventory - John Paskus Oakland County Planning & Economic Development Services - Bret C. Rasegan, RA, Charlotte P. Burckhardt, AICP, PCP, Lawrence S. Falardeau, RLA, Russell Lewis, RA, Leslie E. Kettren, AICP, Jim Keglovitz, and JoAnn Browning

Oakland County Potential Conservation/Natural Areas Report - July 2002 prepared by: John Paskus, Associate Program Leader - Conservation Michael Penskar, Program Leader - Botany Helen Enander, Information Technologist

Oakland County Potential Conservation/Natural Areas Report - April 2004 prepared by: John Paskus, Associate Program Leader - Conservation Helen Enander, Information Technologist I Michigan Natural Features Inventory P.O. Box 30444 8th Floor, Mason Bldg. Lansing, MI 48909-7944

Oakland County Potential Natural Areas Assessment: 2017 Report prepared by: John Paskus, Associate Program Leader - Conservation Helen Enander, Information Technologist I Michigan Natural Features Inventory P.O. Box 13036, Lansing, MI 48901 (Report Number 2017-17)

Historic aerial imagery for the Great Lakes shoreline of Lake Michigan was provided by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC). This imagery was captured in April 1980 by Chicago Aerial Survey and archived by the SEWRPC on mylar sheets at a scale of 1"=400'. Under contract to NOAA, Dewberry obtained the mylar sheets from SEWRPC, scanned them at 600 DPI, and georeference...