GPS for Dummies.pdf - Engineering Surveyor

Chapter 14From the Air with USAPhotoMapsIn This Chapter Discovering USAPhotoMaps Downloading and displaying aerial photos Using aerial photo maps Reviewing other aerial photo programsAerial photos complement other types of maps because they give you asnapshot of reality. Programs that display aerials (map-speak shorthandfor aerial photos) are both inexpensive and easy to use. In this chapter, I reviewmapping programs that can exploit aerial photos, primarily focusing on thepopular shareware application, USAPhotoMaps.To better illustrate the capabilities and functions of this program, I walk youthrough downloading an aerial photo, scrolling and zooming, interfacing theprogram with a GPS receiver, and saving map data.To get the most from this chapter, download and install USAPhotoMaps(http://jdmcox.com) and then use the program to work through the examplesin the following pages. Unlike some shareware programs, USAPhotoMapsisn’t crippled; that is, all its features work when you download the program. Ifyou find the program useful, you can make a donation to the author’s PayPalaccount.Enhancing TerraServer-USAwith USAPhotoMapsTerraServer-USA is a popular Web site that displays free aerial photographsand topographic maps of the U.S. that are produced by the United StatesGeological Survey (USGS). (Read more about TerraServer-USA in Chapter 20.)And although TerraServer-USA is a great Web-hosted mapping service, it hasseveral limitations: