Aerial Imagery Maps and Data

Ordnance Survey Ireland is the country’s most experienced and trusted supplier of aerial imagery and related products and services.

For a quote contact [email protected]

Most Current Aerial Imagery

Our most recent series of high-resolution 25cm imagery was completed in 2017; no other supplier of aerial imagery can match this. Our state-of-the art Leica cameras (purchased in 2016) are fitted with ADS 100 sensors; this new kit allows us to fly higher and faster than before. This means that OSi Aerial Imagery is collected quicker, cheaper and more accurately than ever before.

This new high-resolution dataset was captured using our own aircraft flying out of Shannon. OSi use our own dedicated aircraft, our own crews, people and processes. We are independent of outside resources.

OSi is committed to updating this dataset regularly. Each of the 37 flying blocks that cover the State will be re-flown at least once every three years.

Most Detailed Aerial Imagery – 25cm and 15cm Resolution

OSi is the only supplier of complete coast-to-coast high resolution aerial photography. As a result, we can offer:

• Full coverage of all 26 counties
• Pixel resolution of 25cm
• Over 1.1 TRILLION pixels of data
• A dataset four times more detailed than our previous offerings

In addition, Ordnance Survey Ireland has just recently announced the availability of 15cm resolution imagery for the greater Dublin area. Captured during the summer of 2017, in near perfect flying conditions and processed to the highest quality, this represents OSi’s most accurate imagery to date. In fact, it’s six times more accurate than previous offerings. At 15cm per pixel, even the smallest object can be identified, measured and its position recorded as required.

Pinpoint Accuracy in a Picture

Because the imagery is orthorectified, it’s not just a photograph. Each 15cm pixel has an X,Y co-ordinate that represents its position on the earth surface its now like a map, so that accurate measurements can be taken from it. This means that not only is every object on the ground fully visualised, it also means that each of these objects is spatially correct and are measurable in relation to each other. This makes it an invaluable decision making aid. This imagery is currently being used by Fingal County Council as well as Dublin City Council.

As well as the Dublin Metropolitan area, 15cm availability covers parts of counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, stretching as far as Ashbourne, Naas, Dunshaughlin, Maynooth and Bray.

Total Aerial Cover

Our full 26-county coverage allows us to supply data in our most recent 25cm resolution series to all 31 local authority areas. This means that there are 20,326 tiles of 2km imagery (orthorectified) available nationally for every corner of Ireland.

Completed in 2017, Series One represents the most complete and accurate imagery dataset ever attempted in Ireland and has been made possible in recent years, by the heavy investment in people, equipment and processes.

Every field, building, river, street, every shed, road, fence and wall has been recorded. We are the only organisation to have this level of current detail available for customers. It is four times more accurate than all previous OSi datasets and was captured in half the normal time period. Indeed, further progress is expected for Series Two (2017-19) with the capture time frame reduced to 2.5 years.

Prices are competitive and on a sliding scale depending on data currency. Indeed, some data may be free depending on the type of contract that you have with OSi. It is available as tiles, in bulk, or for a specific area of interest. This imagery is compatible with all other OSi products and can be outputted in two projection systems (IG and ITM) and in a variety of formats.

• Don’t take our word for it, see what some of our customers already use it for:
• National Park & Wildlife Service use imagery to assess the health of various habitats.
• Bord na Móna use it to assess the health of bogs and peatlands under their care.
• Planning authorities use imagery to better assess planning applications.
• Emergency services use OSi imagery for training purposes.
• Air Corps use our data in flight simulation.

OSi’s Aerial Legacy

OSi has been flying – and photographing – the country for decades. We have built up an unparalleled body of experience in this area, and have amassed an archive of legacy imagery that show an ever-evolving landscape.

For the professional engineer, planner or researcher, easy recognition of features adds an extra layer of understanding to your data, and helps your decision-making

OSi Imagery fits seamlessly with all OSi digital products, and gives coast-to-coast coverage.

Seamless and Consistent

The imagery available here is the same imagery that is used by OSi in its update process for all its large-scale digital data.

This ensures an unbroken chain of consistency between our aerial imagery and the highly detailed OSi digital mapping that is used by professional engineers, planners, architects and builders all around the country.

Always Updating

Our flying team operates out of Shannon Airport, and is dedicated to delivering top quality imagery all year round.

They cover the entire State, including offshore islands, and use state-of-the -art cameras to capture the crispest, clearest imagery possible.

OSi Aerial Imagery Products

OSi Aerial Imagery Maps are:

A site-centred paper plot of your area of interest produced using aerial imagery from 15cm/25cm to 1m resolution from Ordnance Survey and DigitalGlobe™ orthorectified to remove inaccuracies caused by camera tilt and lens distortion to produce scale accurate images

How are they used?
OSi Aerial Imagery Maps can be used for a variety of reference, comparison, measurement, surveying, or engineering applications and are of interest to anyone requiring a real-world image with the same accuracy, overhead perspective and supporting marginalia of a traditional cartographic map.

How are they displayed?
Each Imagery Map is displayed within a map window, with grid coordinates in Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) projection marked at each of the four corners. Colour marginalia contains additional information regarding the map composition including a North arrow, scale bar, output scale, image series/capture date and sheet centre coordinates in ITM. The map purchase date and order number are also displayed.

What are the advantages?
Unlike satellite imagery, Orthophotography is captured digitally by aircraft and is corrected to allow for slopes and other distortions so that it corresponds exactly to large scale mapping, providing high levels of accuracy. OSi has national coverage of high flown, low resolution imagery captured periodically since 1995 and also low flown, high resolution data captured since 2007 covering over 80 of the main cities and towns of Ireland. Aerial Imagery Maps are supplied by OSi in ITM projections, for the Republic of Ireland only.

What is the coverage?
Through agreements with Microsoft™, DigitalGlobe’s Precision Aerial product is available for 100% of the Irish State at 30cm2 resolution. This level of detail ensures striking clarity and high precision for the user and gives customers of Ordnance Survey Ireland a product that is produced from imagery captured between July 2011 and Oct 2013. The data is also compatible with existing OSi map products and comes complete with detailed Metadata (technical data about the imagery).

OSi Aerial Imagery Maps can easily be site-centred by customer-guided screen selection using a fixed ground rectangle, equivalent to their chosen paper size (A4-A0), centred on the customer’s Area of Interest. Maps can also be specified by a pair of coordinates, an Eircode, or by street address. Extracts are available in either Landscape or Portrait orientation to a ranged of scaled outputs appropriate to the selected resolution; 1:1,000 (25cm Resolution only), 1:2,500, 1:5,000 and 1:15,000 (1m Resolution only).

All A4 and A3-size PLACE maps are output as print-optimised PDF digital documents and are available to download for immediate printing. However, due to file-size and print-quality limitations imposed by most standard printers, all A2/A1/A0 size maps are professionally printed in-house by OSi, or through one of our agents, and shipped by post in a protective cardboard tube.

Aerial Imagery Extract

Ordnance Survey Ireland provides digitally scanned, ortho-rectified, raster colour & black and white photography, in both low and high resolution.

OSi provides digitally scanned, orthorectified, colour & black and white aerial photography, in both low and high resolutions for download in raster data format.

Additionally, OSi is the exclusive reseller in Ireland of DigitalGlobe™ Precision Aerial colour photography, which is fully compatible with all existing OSi map products.

FAQ

How are they used?
OSi Imagery Extracts are of interest to professional users who wish to import OSi Orthophotography, or Aerial Imagery Data, into their own CAD/GIS environments for a range of additional uses in support of their own project workflows.

How are they captured?
Unlike satellite imagery, orthophotography is captured digitally by aircraft and is corrected to allow for slopes and other distortions so that it corresponds exactly to large scale mapping, providing high levels of accuracy. OSi has national coverage of high flown, low resolution (1m2) imagery captured periodically since 1995 and also low flown, high resolution (25cm2) data captured since 2007 covering over 80 of the main cities and towns of Ireland. Orthophotography can be supplied by OSi in both Irish Grid (IG) and Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) projections, for the Republic of Ireland only.

How are they displayed?
OSi Imagery Extracts are customisable digital extracts of OSi or DigitalGlobe™ orthorectified aerial imagery data, ranging in resolution from 25cm to 1m, with source data captured at various intervals between 1995 and 2017. Extracts can easily be site-centred by customer-guided screen selection using a modifiable polygon, or bounding box, centred on the customer’s Area of Interest. They can also be specified by supplying a pair of coordinates, an Eircode, or a street address. These extracts are extremely flexible and can be tailored to almost any shape and size, subject to a maximum ground area of 12km2. OSi Imagery Extracts are supplied in either IG or ITM projections and are available for download as digital raster images in TIFF file format.

What are the advantages?
OSi’s 25cm Resolution Orthophotography 2017 Extract is our ‘best-and-latest-available’ dataset, both in terms of quality and currency. This premium orthomosaic is comprised of the most up-to-date, highest available resolution imagery for your area of interest, which has been digitally ‘stitched’ together to ensure full seamless national coverage. Customers should be aware that the date referred to in this instance (i.e. 2017) refers exclusively to the currency of the entire national Hi-Res imagery dataset. Depending on the extract selected, the actual date of image capture may vary anywhere between 2007 and 2017. This does not mean that you will receive an inferior product. You are simply getting the ‘best available’ extract for your area of interest which we currently hold in our data store.

Precision Aerial, a product of DigitalGlobe™ delivers the industry’s first high-quality, wall-to-wall collection of 30cm2 resolution, natural colour (RGB) aerial orthomosaics covering Western Europe. Through agreements with Microsoft™, DigitalGlobe’s Precision Aerial product is available for 100% of the Irish State at 30cm2 resolution. This level of detail ensures striking clarity and high precision for the user and gives customers of Ordnance Survey Ireland a product that is produced from imagery captured between July 2011 and Oct 2013. The data is also compatible with existing OSi map products and comes complete with detailed Metadata (technical data about the imagery). OSi are pleased to offer customers the opportunity to purchase this third-party dataset in addition to our extensive catalogue of national aerial imagery.

How detailed is the imagery?
Apart from the nationwide 25cm coverage mentioned above, Ordnance Survey Ireland has recently announced the availability of 15cm imagery for the greater Dublin area. Captured during April and May of 2017, in near perfect flying conditions and processed to the highest quality, this represents OSI’s most accurate imagery to date. At 15cm per pixel, this means that even the smallest object can be identified, measured and its position recorded as required. Each 15cm pixel has an X & Y co-ordinate that represents its position on the earth surface. This means that not only is every object on the ground fully visualised, it also means that each of these objects is spatially correct in relation to each other. This makes it an invaluable aid to decision making. As well as the Dublin Metropolitan area, other areas covered in the block extend as far as Asbhourne, Naas, Dunshoughlin, Maynooth and Bray.

How up-to-date is the imagery?
Most days, we have a plane in the air, capturing imagery for you somewhere. Our 25cm Series One imagery was completed in 2017, giving unprecedented coast-to-coast coverage at a very highly detailed 25cm pixel resolution. We’re now flying for 25cm Series Two, completing full-State coverage once again by 2019. As soon as each one of the 37 blocks that cover the State is processed, it’s available for you.

Do I need special software?
Usually not. Most proprietary PC software packages have the capacity to display raster aerial imagery. OSi’s aerial imagery from several different series can be seen without any special software on the OSi map viewer at osi.ie or on www.geohive.ie or by most of our professional customers on [email protected]. Also, a professional user will usually have a generic GIS application, where they can display OSi aerial imagery without any fuss.

Can I use it with other vector or raster mapping?
Yes. All OSi digital products are inter-operational because they share a common system of coordinate referencing. Most commonly, Irish Transverse Mercator or Irish Grid (ITM or IG) are the two most favoured projections used in Ireland.

What can I do with it?
Many map users, even experienced GIS professionals, often find aerial imagery much more intuitive than a map. When used within a GIS app, it’s direct representation of physical features brings other mapping data “alive”. Also, colour imagery can be used for a range of analysis tasks – assessing soil type or quality, land use patterns, crop health (forestry, grain , pasture and natural ecology), or monitoring coastal and river erosion. These are just some common uses of OSi aerial imagery. Here at OSi, we use our own imagery for producing our own products, because we know it’s the best available.

What does Orthophotography mean?
The term ‘Orthophotography’ refers to aerial photography that has been adjusted to remove distortions caused by camera lens curvature, and pitch and tilt of the plane. The resulting orthophoto has the characteristics of a map, in that you can accurately measure distances on it, and the image can be given coordinates from any mapping projection system. This means that the orthophoto can be superimposed on a map, or draped over contours.

What is the difference between aerial photography, orthophotography, and aerial imagery?
Aerial photography is, quite simply, photography taken from the air, usually in high definition and from a fixed-wing aeroplane, helicopter or UAV. OSi prefers to use a plane as this provides more effective results in terms of speed, and range. Orthophotography is pretty much the same as standard photography, but goes through a rectification process to remove distortions in the image caused by lens curvature, and other imperfections such as height variations in the image as the plane moves through the air. This results in an image that can be given grid coordinates so that it now can be used to take accurate measurements like a map, but still has the benefit of being used for feature recognition and analysis. “Aerial Imagery” is the term most widely used today to refer to remotely-sensed data captured from the air (not to be confused with satellite imagery). The term is for the most part interchangeable with “Aerial Photography”. Historically, aerial photography was the term used to describe data captured in the air by the camera using film; when digital cameras were introduced, people began using the term “aerial imagery” as a mark of differentiation. Traditionally aerial imagery is captured in 3-band (red, green, blue) colours, but modern digital sensors can also support a fourth colour band, infra-red. OSi has been using aerial digital sensors since 2006.

How do I get my own aerial imagery data?
Drop an email to [email protected] and they’ll ensure you’re looked after.

What does it cost?
Surprisingly cost-effective.

Much of it is free to view on our viewers; on the OSi map viewer at osi.ie or on www.geohive.ie or by most of our professional customers on [email protected]. Also, if you are working for an eligible body under the National Mapping Agreement, you are most likely entitled to OSi aerial imagery if it’s older than three years since date of capture.

For other users, there’s a sliding scale of fees, depending on the quantity and currency of data that you need have a chat with [email protected] to discuss a package to suit your needs.

OSi Aerial Imagery is flown and organised in blocks as seen in the diagram below.

Block Information – Series 1