New color aerial photos are available.
The Montana State Library, Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) is pleased to announce the availability of high-resolution (1 foot pixel) natural-color aerial photos of Anaconda, Butte, Cut Bank, Deer Lodge, Glendive, Great Falls, Hamilton, Havre, Helena, Lewistown, Miles City, and Sidney on our web site at http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/orthophotos. Orthophotos of 8 other Montana areas will be available later this year.These photographs are also available for viewing on the Topofinder at http://maps2.nris.state.mt.us/scripts/esrimap.dll?name=LocMap&Cmd=Map and will soon be available through the USGS National Map site at http://nationalmap.gov
Users of ESRI's ArcMap and free ArcExplorer software may view the images thruough the NRIS ArcIMS image service. This service allows ArcMap and ArcExplorer to add the color aerial photos, black and white USGS digital orthophotos, and images of 1:24,000 scale USGS topographic maps to their documents. Because these are seamless data sets covering the entire state, you do not have to determine which quadrangles or images to load for the area you are viewing, and the images do not have nodata areas around their edges that need to be made transparent. For instructions on using the ArcIMS service, go to http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/orthophotos/raster_svc.htm.
The bulk of this imagery is made possible through an Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) Homeland Security Grant. The GIS Subcommittee of the State Emergency Response Committee (SERC) has oversight of this project. The Helena imagery is provided through a cooperative project between the City of Helena - Lewis and Clark County GIS Center and the USGS Montana Partnership Office in Bozeman, MT.