In order to obtain a copy of a historical aerial photo, follow these steps:
(1) OPEN THE IHAPI MAP.
(2) SELECT YOUR COUNTY AND YEAR OF INTEREST.
In the upper-right area labeled "START HERE," select your county of interest. Another drop-down box will appear, listing the years for which historical aerial photos are available. Select your year of interest. Click the button labeled "Zoom to Selection."
You will automatically be zoomed-in to your county and year of interest, the appropriate black-and-white photomosaic will appear, and the locations of photo identification numbers will be indicated by colored symbols.
(3) FIND YOUR SITE OF INTEREST.
Within the county, find the exact location of your site of interest. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways:
-
Use the "Zoom-In"
and "Pan" 
tools to find your site of
interest if you know your site's location within the county. To assist in locating your site, various layers showing different types
of features (such as major roads, urban areas, lakes, and others) are available for viewing and querying from the folder named "Reference Layers."
- If you know the street address of your site of interest, you can use the "Search/Query > Locate Address or Street" function to automatically zoom to that location. NOTE: Locations obtained using this tool are approximate.
- If you have coordinate information, such as that obtained from a GPS unit, you can use the "Search/Query > Zoom to Coordinates" function. NOTE: Coordinate information must be entered as either decimal degrees or as UTM coordinates.
- If you know the name of the town in which the site is located, you can zoom to the town by using the "Search/Query > Zoom to Location > Zoom to City/Town/Place" function.
- If you know the name of the topographic quadrangle in which the site is located, you can zoom to the quadrangle by using the "Search/Query > Zoom to Location > Zoom to Quad" function. To view topographic maps, turn on the layer named "Topographic Maps" that can be found in the folder named "Reference Layers."
- If you know the name of the Section, Township, and Range in which the site is located, you can zoom to the Section by using the "Search/Query > Zoom to Location > Zoom to Township/Range/Section" function. NOTE: This function uses "townships" as defined for the Public Land Survey System, also known as the "Congressional Survey System." These should not be confused with civil townships (such as "Washington Township").
NOTE: If you need assistance with any of the tools described above, watch the IHAPI Video Tutorials or contact personnel of the Indiana Geological Survey (telephone: 812-855-1369 or 812-856-5654).
(4) OBTAIN THE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER OF YOUR PHOTO OF INTEREST.
After you have located your particular site of interest, obtain the
identification number of the appropriate historical aerial photo by using the "Identify" 
or "Select by Rectangle" 
tools.
NOTE: If the index points are red (
),
select the point that is located to the upper right of your site of interest.
If the index points are green (
),
select the point that is located to the upper left of your site of interest. If a yellow circle appears with the index point
(
), then a low-resolution thumbnail image is available for viewing.
After using the "Identify" or "Select by Rectangle" tool, a new browser window named "Query/Selection Results" will appear. This contains the
information necessary to order individual historical aerial photographs, a thumbnail image (if available), and information regarding the
availability of the photograph in various archival collections.
 |
Example of "Query/Selection Results" window
The blue box contains information regarding the availability of the historical aerial photograph in various archival collections. In this example, the photograph (AIP-2HH-284) taken in Monroe County in 1967 is available from the Geography Library, Indiana University. |
(5) CONTACT AN ARCHIVE.
After you have obtained the identification number of your photo of interest, contact an archival collection to determine the availability of paper or digital copies of the photograph. NOTE: Each archive has its own fee schedule.