Aerial Imagery

Aerial imagery (sometimes called aerial photography) provides a bird's-eye view of the landscape, making it easier to understand the layout of the terrain. It captures detail about the Earth's surface, including topography, vegetation, water bodies, infrastructure and human activities which are often not visible through ground-based or map-based observations alone (e.g. roofs with solar panels).

Aerial imagery is useful for monitoring changes over time, such as deforestation, urban expansion or coastal erosion and visualising changes in land-use and environmental impact. It is also used as the basis for creating 3D models. It has become an indispensable tool in various industries, providing additional insight to support situational awareness, decision-making and in helping to satisfy legislative requirements for biodiversity, climate change and planning.

Emapsite licenses data licence data from the leading providers in Great Britain. We provide aerial imagery at various resolutions from 12.5cm (high resolution) to 2m (low resolution) to optimise price and performance for different use cases. Lower resolution data (e.g. 2m) enables visualisation and analysis of larger geographic areas for a similar budget. Higher resolution data provides more detailed insights with clear visibility of features

This describes the ground distance per on-screen pixel

12.5cm - Roof Tiles / Street Furniture

• Detailed urban and electric vehicle charging site planning

• Solar panel installation studies

• Asset management (identifying equipment, signs etc.)

50cm - building types, road networks

• Wildlife habitat mapping

• Regional development/infrastructure planning

2m - general land cover, larger scale planning

• Regional economic development planning

• National scale land use planning

25cm - Cars, Building Features

• Environmental impact assessments for development projects

• General property assessment

• Infrastructure planning and retail site analysis

1m - building footprints, agricultural fields

• Forestry management/agricultural planning

• Urban sprawl analysis

OS MasterMap Imagery Layer provides a reliable and consistent source of orthorectified, aerial photography at 25cm resolution for general business use. The product is colour-balanced, and edge matched to minimise misalignment or inconsistency at image boundaries.

OS MasterMap Imagery Layer is used in a variety of use cases. Features align consistently with OS MasterMap Topography Layer data to add visual and contextual capability, considerably enhancing mapping projects for surveyors, engineers, planners and many more

• Site evaluation
• Land-use cover/land use analysis
• Property management and planning applications
• Asset management
• Property insurance
• Risk analysis
• Route planning and site accessibility
• Environmental monitoring

Ordnance Survey has invested considerable resources to provide orthorectified imagery that achieves the consistently high standard for shape, position and colour. Priority is given to positional accuracy and ensuring details can be seen within shadows, with consistent mosaicing and edgematching between areas of imagery collected at different times. The data is typically between 3 and 5 years old.

Buy OS MasterMap Imagery Layer

License: PDF

Technical Details

Supplier: Emapsite
Update Cycle: Quarterly
Coverage: Great Britain
Scale: 1:1250 to 1:10 000
Formats Available: TIF, JPG, BMP, PNG
Stated Accuracy: 1.1 m root‑mean‑square error (RMSE)
Stated Accuracy
Stated Accuracy
Licence Options: Annual
Delivery Timescale: Within 24 hours

Related Products

OS MasterMap Topography Layer

Download Samples

TIF

Bluesky is a specialist in the acquisition and processing of aerial photography and in the creation of high quality digital imagery and terrain products. By investing in the latest airborne camera technology, Bluesky ensures the quality, accuracy and consistency of its imagery to the highest standard. Bluesky is the sole supplier of aerial photography and digital terrain models to public sector organisations in Great Britain, having been awarded the Aerial Photography for Great Britain contract (APGB) by the Geospatial Commission in 2024.

Bluesky data is updated on a rolling, two-year cycle. This increased capture frequency assists with growing concerns about tackling issues like climate change and achieving targets for carbon emission reduction.

The following products may be ordered in our mapshop and 5cm resolution imagery is available on request for some urban centres:

Bluesky Aerial Photography 12.5cm

• Detailed urban and electric vehicle charging site planning
• Solar panel installation studies
• Asset management (identifying equipment, signs etc.)

Buy this product

Bluesky Aerial Photography 25cm

• Environmental impact assessments for development projects
• General property assessment
• Infrastructure planning and retail site analysis

Buy this product

Bluesky Aerial Photography 50cm

• Wildlife habitat mapping
• Regional development/infrastructure planning

Buy this product

Bluesky Aerial Photography 1m

• Forestry management/agricultural planning
• Urban sprawl analysis

Buy this product

Bluesky Aerial Photography 2m

• Regional economic development planning
• National scale land use planning

Buy this product

Technical Details

Supplier: Emapsite
Update Cycle: Every two-years
Coverage: GB
Scale: From 2m resolution to 12.5cm (with 5cm in some urban areas)
Formats Available: TIF, JPG, PNG, BMP
Stated Accuracy: 12.5cm Accuracy +/– 0.3m RMSE
Stated Accuracy: 25cm Accuracy +/– 0.6m RMSE
Stated Accuracy
Licence Options: Annual
Delivery Timescale: Within minutes

Related Products

OS MasterMap Topography Layer

Bluesky National Tree Map

Download Samples

INSERT SAMPLE LINKS > > >

Getmapping pioneered the concept of nationwide coverage of aerial photography and is a leading provider of geospatial data. Getmapping has over 25 years expertise with over 25 years expertise in capturing and delivering high-resolution aerial imagery, from 2-metre (low resolution) to 12.5-centimetre resolution (high resolution) for a variety of business applications.

Getmapping aerial imagery data is updated on a rolling, three-year cycle and the following products can be ordered in our mapshop:

Getmapping Aerial Photography 12.5cm