The Use of Aerial

Photography and

Historical Records

to Assist Land

Managers

By Michael Marchase,

Cartographer,

National Science and

Technology Center, BLM

Background

Important changes on public lands

can be assessed and quantified

using state of the art photogrammetric and image processing

methods. Information can be gathered and structured to address

many questions using records (diagrams, plats, sketches, maps) and

historical and current aerial photography. Some such questions

may deal with ownership and

title (especially where rivers are

involved), still others are driven by

oil and gas royalty distributions

while others may be concerned

with liability issues. The Bureau of

Land Management’s National

Science and Technology Center

has been involved in applying

photogrammetric and image processing methods on a number of

projects. The results of using

these methods and technologies

have been very beneficial to the

Bureau both in time and money

saved and quality and accuracy of

the products.

Methodology

Capabilities of two disciplines,

photogrammetry and image processing, have been combined to

address issues of product cost,

quality, and accuracy.

Photogrammetry, defined as the

art and science of obtaining

reliable information from photographs, provides the ability to

interpret and measure ground

features in a three dimensional

(stereoscopic) environment.

Because of the ability to use elevation differences when interpreting

features, stereoscopic viewing produces a more reliable and accurate

data set. Image processing, defined

as a section of remote sensing

that encompasses all the various

operations that can be applied to

photographic or image data,

allows you to resample, manipulate and otherwise conform the

more conventional two dimensional data sets.

Following are some examples of

types of issues where this technology can be of great value to land

managers.

Riparian Boundary

Investigation

Photogrammetry and image processing technology lends itself

well to riparian boundary investigation, in support of cadastral

survey operations. Typically these

situations develop when a section

of river is used as a boundary.

Over time, the river has continued to migrate and lands adjacent

to the river have changed title,

resulting in ownership questions.

Through diligent research of city,

county, state and national archives

as well as repositories and government agency records, valuable

spatial information can be

assembled. Using this historical

data the rivers migration over

time can be reconstructed and

chronicled. Placing all of the

resulting information into a common coordinate system allows the

Bureau’s Cadastral Riparian

Boundary Specialist to analyze the

data and make decisions concerning land ownership based on laws

and regulations that pertain to

riparian property. These techniques

have been applied on several projects at different spots along the

Snake River in Idaho, on the

Yakima River in Washington and

on the Arkansas River in

Oklahoma.

Investigation of 

Unauthorized Use and 

Right of Way Disputes

These techniques can also be used

for situations involving unauthorized use or right of way disputes.

Verifying a roads existence or

detecting changes in alignment

and conditions can be realized

using historical aerial photography along with spatial records.

Signs and gate locations, for

example, can be determined if

good quality source materials are

available. The photographic

record can fix events and land

conditions in time and is therefore

an excellent tool for use in litigation situations. These techniques

have been applied on projects in

Colorado, Utah and California.

Techniques and Tools

The preferred way of planning a

project is to determine the end

products needed and then develop the methodology that will

deliver the desired results. With

spatial data the accuracy and output scale are the most critical and

controlling factors. With many of

these types of projects however,

RESOURCE NOTES

NO. 20 DATE 06/27/00

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Cartography/mapping sciences
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output accuracy and scale depend

on the accuracy and scale of the

historical source material one is

able to locate. When relying on

historical material, the controlling

factor is what is available and will

it meet the project requirements.

For some projects, aerial photography flown via the National

Aerial Photography Program

(NAPP, 1:40,000 Scale) and

ground control derived from U.S.

Geological Survey Digital Raster

Graphics (DRG) with a horizontal accuracy of +/- 40 feet and a

vertical accuracy of +/- 5 feet may

satisfy the necessary accuracy. For

projects with higher accuracy

requirements, meeting specifications may require “on-the-ground”

surveying with a higher accuracy

and new photography flown at a

larger scale.

On a typical project of this

nature, current or recent photography that has a ground control

survey associated with it, is

desired. Once this is obtained,

the control (known x,y,z coordinates) can be bridged to different

years of photography, and/or to

historical records (maps, plots,

sketches, diagrams) if common

locations can be determined.

Given this situation the compilation can be preformed whether

you are looking for the Ordinary

High Water Line of a river or the

edges of a road or quarry.

Tools that are used when dealing with these kinds of projects

are: document scanners, photogrammetric scanners, analytical

stereoplotters, image processing

software, compilation software

and printers.

Contact

Michael A. Marchase

Cartographer 

BLM, NSTC

Denver Federal Center

Building 50

P.O. Box 25047

Denver, Colorado 80225-00476,

phone (303) 236-1738

fax (303) 236-6564

email: Michael_Marchase@blm.gov

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Resource Notes are intended to be early

announcements of technical and informational topics for

Bureau of Land Management personnel and some of their customers.

Information in this Resource Note is based on the opinion and

experience of the author and has not been peer-reviewed. Conclusions

and opinions expressed herein do not

necessarily represent those of BLM. Use of trade names does not

imply U.S. Government endorsement of commercial products.

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NAME, TITLE, MAILING ADDRESS and a list of the two or three

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RS-140, P.O. Box 25047, Denver, CO. 80225-0047 or

phil_dittberner@blm.gov or FAX 303-236-3508.

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