Aerial Photography : Florida

The University of Florida Map & Imagery Library houses the largest and most complete collection of Florida aerial photographs (~160,000 photos) outside of the National Archives. These photos document the dramatic changes in Florida’s land use between 1937 and 1990. Originally intended to assist farmers in accurately assessing their farms and to provide information on crop determination and soil conservation, today these images provide some of the oldest land use/cover information available. They are used extensively in agriculture, conservation, urbanization, recreation, education, hydrology, geology, land use, ecology, geography, and history.

The online Aerial Photography: Florida Collection can be used to access and download aerial photographs from the library’s extensive collection. The years available vary by county but extend from 1937 – 1990. Please note, the images are intended for education, historical evaluations, general planning purposes and aerial photograph preservation, not for measurement use or as legal documents.

  • New *beta* MAP SEARCH – Go to https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/aerials and click on “Map Search” in the menu bar. Select your area of interest and click on “Search Aerials”. The results will show the flights that include your area. To find the specific aerials that you need, click on the flight you are interested in looking at and then click on “Map It” to select the aerials that cover your site.
  • Original MAP SEARCH
  • FLIGHTS BY COUNTY – Listing of all the Florida counties, then broken down by year, flight number, and aerial tile number. Useful if you know exactly what aerial number you are looking for. Also provides access to the scanned aerial photograph indexes.

Images from this collection can be downloaded as JPEG 2000 (JP2) files. Information on free JP2 viewers is available from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (http://data.labins.org/2003/General/reference/graphics_tips.cfm) and the Irfanview software is available as freeware (http://www.irfanview.com/) to view, convert, and batch convert JP2 images.


The Aerial Photography: Florida Collection has been funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida. The Aerial Photography: Florida Collection was funded by three Library Services and Technology Act grants (proposals: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III).