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County puts aerial photos online
(The Beaufort Gazette, S.C. Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 30--Technophobes, take cover.
Technophiles? Get ready to gawk.
Dan Morgan,cq Beaufort County's director of geographic information systems, announced last week that detailed aerial photos captured in 2007 are available on the county's Web site, bcgov.net, through the popular real property lookup tool.
The gawk factor comes from the impressive level of detail -- it's clear enough to count the headstones in Beaufort National Cemetery -- and the option to see stuff from multiple, oblique angles.
That's a big distinction from traditional top-down aerials. For example, using top-down aerials to look at 81 Lady's Island Drive, a user can see a clearing in the trees on the side of the road and a large, white-roofed building. But the user can't tell much more about the building beyond that.
Switching to oblique angles reveals two steeples that the flat images hid; it's Sea Island Presbyterian Church.
Besides being a cool gadget, it's a practical resource. County Councilman Steven Baercq said he was shopping for a new home insurance policy and an agent wanted a photo of his house. He saved her the trip and e-mailed the agent a link to the aerial photography tool.
The Web-based application for the images came through Microsoft Virtual Earth at no extra cost to the county, Morgan said. Microsoft has a license with Pictometry, a company based in Rochester, N.Y., with whom the county signed a two-year, $153,000 contract in 2006 for the oblique images.
That contract includes unlimited licenses of Pictometry software for county departments, though it is not available for the general public.
The software enables county departments to layer GIS data in with the images. Pictometry also offers free flyovers to update images after a hurricane, terrorist attack or other disaster. Property assessors and code enforcement officers can use change detection features in the software to identify damage as well as track landscape changes and additions to properties without leaving the office, reducing down time in the car and travel expenses.
To see more of The Beaufort Gazette or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.beaufortgazette.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Beaufort Gazette, S.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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