In the aftermath of a significant hurricane or other natural disaster, NOAA
may be tasked to collect aerial imagery. This imagery is typically used to view
damage to coastal areas. For example, here is Mexico Beach in Florida shown before
and after Hurricane Michael in 2018. Images are available to view in a web
browser using the National Geodetic Survey's aerial imagery viewer. Let's take
a look at how to use this free online tool. We'll begin by going to the
Emergency Response imagery homepage. Here, you'll see a list of all events that
have associated aerial imagery. Begin by selecting an event. We're going to use
2018's Hurricane Michael as an example. On the top row of the map, you'll
find three options: about, download, and contact. The 'about' button provides
general information and metadata. Here, you can also find a link to a web
service that can be used to display the imagery in geographic information
systems or GIS. The 'download' button allows you to download zipped files of
images that are sorted by the day of collection. Select the TIFF option if you
want the imagery that is displayed in the viewer. And lastly, there's a button
that allows you to contact NOAA if you have questions. Now let's move on to the
main map area. In the top left corner of the map, you'll find a zoom toggle. Tap or
click on the appropriate + or - symbol to control the zoom level of the
map. Change the location by dragging with your mouse or using your fingers on
a mobile device. Underneath the zoom controls, you'll find a magnifying glass.
Select it to open a search window, where you can enter an address. This will
quickly allow you to zoom to your area of interest. Here, we search for Mexico
Beach, Florida. On the top right corner of the map
viewer, you'll see an icon with three stacked rectangles. Select to view
available map layers: base maps -- Street View and Satellite View -- are on top,
followed by a list of all available imagery from NOAA. Now here's an example
of viewing before-and-after imagery. Always start with the street view, as
shown here. This makes it much easier to determine if you're looking at satellite
imagery or collected NOAA imagery. I'm going to zoom in to Mexico Beach Florida.
Here, you can see imagery collected by NOAA on October 11th 2018. Behind
this layer you can see the street view. In this case, the light blue shows the Gulf
of Mexico where no imagery was collected by NOAA. Now go back to the data layers
in the upper right to deselect, or hide, the NOAA imagery collected on this date.
I've also selected the satellite view instead of the street view. This shows
what the area looked like prior to the hurricane. Now by re-selecting the NOAA
imagery layer, I can view the area before and after the hurricane. Finally, we're
going to take a look at the web browser link for this page. It's the link used to
access the map. You can create a custom URL for the imagery viewer by entering a
known latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, along with a select zoom
level. Or simply zoom in to a location with your finger or mouse and copy out
the link. This link will get you back to the same spot on the map at a later time.
Visit storms.ngs.noaa.gov to view the full collection of storm imagery from
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey.