Aerial photographs are taken by optical cameras, generally from fixed-wing aircraft.
Our collection of aerial photographs is generally limited geographically to Arizona. Many of the sets will be located in Special Collections and are reserved for building use only.
Major sets of aerial photographs in our collection
Indexes for Tucson and Pima County Aerial Photography (1960-2001)
Tucson
- Greater Tucson, Arizona Date Flown (1948)
- Gemini Photomap of the Tucson, Arizona Vicinity (1965)
- Tucson Area Aerial Photography (1967)
- Photo Atlas: Tucson, Arizona (1971)
- Tucson and Vicinity Aerial Photography (1974)
- Tucson Aerial Photo Coverage (1978)
- Aerial Photo Enlargement, University of Arizona (1979)
- Tucson Aerial Photos: Inner-Metro Area Set (1979-1980).
- Tucson Aerial Photo Coverage (1980)
- Aerial Photo Guide: Tucson & Vicinity. (1986)
- Tucson General Coverage (1987)
- Tucson, Landiscor Aerial Photos of Arizona
Pima County
- Tucson and portions of Pima County, Arizona Aerial Photography (1960)
- City of Tucson and portion of Pima County Aerial Photography (1961)
- Tucson and Eastern Pima County, Arizona Aerial Photography (1963-64)
- Tucson and eastern Pima County, Arizona Aerial Photographs (1967)
- National High Altitude Program: Pima County (1983-1984)
Arizona
- Aerial Photographs of the San Carlos Indian Reservation, Arizona (1959)
- Aerial Photographs of the Papago Indian Reservation (196-?)
- 7.5' Series Orthophotoquad; Arizona (1971)
- Arizona State University Library Aerial Photographs and ASU GeoData-- indexes available for most aerial photograph sets
Digital aerial photographs
EarthExplorer
Download DOQQs, DRGs, DEMs, and satellite imagery (various Landsat missions and others).
USDA Geospatial Data Gateway
Download NAIP imagery, 3 band.
University of Arizona Ortho Imagery, available in the Spatial Data Explorer
Orthophotos of the University of Arizona campus from 1996 and 2001 from UA Facilities and Planning as part of the University's Enterprise Geographic Information Systems.
NAIP (National Agriculture Imagery Program), available in the Spatial Data Explorer
PAG Orthophotography and LiDAR Imagery Data 1998-2015
Provides access to orthophotography data from 1998-2015 and LiDAR data from 2005-2015 for Pima County by the Pima Association of Governments.
Purchasing aerial photographs
Cooper Aerial Survey Company
Aerial photo coverage of the Tucson area and other parts of southern Arizona are available.
EarthExplorer
Use to search, preview, and download medium-resolution digital files at no cost. High-resolution imagery can be ordered.
Aerial Photography Field Office (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Digital copies and contact prints available from 1955 to the present.
Cartographic and Architectural Archives (U.S. National Archives)
Copies of aerial photos taken before 1941 for most government agencies are available here.