Archive Aerial Photograph Scanning
Digitization of aerial photograph negatives acquired using analogue technology.
Problem description
Before the introduction of digital technologies, aerial photographs acquired from aircraft using aerial survey cameras were preserved in the form of negatives, duplicate negatives or contact prints, in many cases with security markings, in the Knowledge Centre's Aerial Film Archive. To enable these data to be easily, rapidly and universally accessed, used and published, it became necessary to digitize them.
Solution workflow
As part of the preparation of archive aerial photograph negatives for digitization, general or “hatching” markings used for non-destructive security classification are removed. Contaminants, adhesive residues and dust particles on the negatives are removed using mechanical and chemical cleaning methods.
The second phase of the workflow involves digitizing the photographs using specialised Leica aerial film scanners. Following the organisation of the digital files into a database, they are published every six months through the Fentrol.hu digital aerial photograph archive.
Output
High-resolution digital aerial photograph datasets with known spatial positioning, i.e. georeferencing information. More than 280,000 photographs are published through the Fentrol.hu digital aerial photograph archive.
