Web Imagery Search Interface (WIMSI)
The Web Imagery Search Interface (WIMSI) enables users to find air photo or orthophoto imagery for specific locations in British Columbia.
Provide a film roll and frame number designation to locate an individual frame or even an entire film roll. Refine your search by:
- Search radius
- Range of years
- Mapsheet number
- Latitude & longitude coordinates
- Civic address
- Geographical feature name
Search results can be exported as:
- KML, for use in Google Earth and other applications
- CSV, for use in text editors, databases or spreadsheets
How to Use
- Open the Web Imagery Search Interface tool.
- Select the type of imagery you want to find by clicking Search Air Photos or Search Orthophotos. To find air photos from before 1963, click Search Air Photo Index Maps.
- Refine your search by selecting a tab: Geographic Name, Address, Latitude/Longitude, Mapsheet, or Roll and Frame (air photo searches only).
- Set a Search Radius between 1 and 10 kilometres. The resulting search will locate all images where the image centre falls within the search radius.
- Set Filter and Sort parameters to exclude unwanted results from your search. Sort results alphabetically by mapsheet position, or descending chronologically by year.
- Click a button to choose how you want your results returned. Search returns a table in the browser window. View in Google Earth dynamically creates a KML file of your search results. Export to Excel downloads a table of your results as a CSV file.
- Where available, view a low-resolution version of your selected image by clicking on the link in the Thumbnail Image column. The low-resolution images are free to download for personal use.
- Order high-resolution images from the Base Map Online Store.
Tips
- If your search returns no images or fewer than preferred, try increasing the search radius or broadening the search filter parameters.
- Some thumbnail images may appear to be upside-down due to aircraft flight patterns. If using Google Earth, rotate the map to match the orientation of the thumbnail image.
- Not all air photos and orthophotos will have a low-resolution thumbnail image available.
- To clear your search results from Google Earth, choose “No” when prompted to save any currently loaded KML layers, or delete the KML layer from the “My Places” folder.