A VIEW FROM ABOVE

City Saves Time, Residents Get Free Aerial Photos

A view from the sky of your home, your neighborhood, or any part of Fort Wayne is a click away at the City’s map website. And it’s free!

Fort Wayne City Utilities Geographic Information System (GIS) Department has 2008 aerial photos available at its site maps.cityoffortwayne.org <maps.cityoffortwayne.org/>

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Aerial photos have long been a valuable tool for City engineers who use them to examine roadways, creeks, streams, housing additions, and impervious surfaces. It saves time and money, because many tasks can be done from the office rather than having to go out to each neighborhood to assess an area. However, many citizens have also discovered aerial photos to be a practical resource.

“Residents are always asking for aerial maps, and after receiving a federal grant to update our maps in 2008, we decided to make the maps available to the public for free,” said Kevin Holle, Department Head, GIS.

The Fort Wayne aerial photos are not only from 2008, but also 2003 and 2005, so users may compare different years. The site also allows citizens to save individual photo tiles to their home computer in JPEG format. That’s different than other sites which usually do not make aerial photos available as a free download.

“The site offers added features that allow a person to view neighborhood associations, historic districts, garbage and recycle pickup schedules, and council districts. It also allows them to overlay things like trails and greenways, parks, snow routes, and census tracts,” said Holle.

A tutorial is available on the website to instruct citizens on navigating the system.

The City received a grant from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the photos were taken last April. The aerials cover not only Fort Wayne, but Allen County too.