Imagery data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Appalachian National Scenic Trail

This reference contains the imagery data used in the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Orthophotos, raw imagery, and scanned aerial photos are common files held here.

Imagery can also be downloaded at: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov

The rectified, full-resolution orthoimages used to map vegetation for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail are now available through the USGS Earth Explorer imagery portal. They are housed under the "Data Set" tab, "Aerial Imagery" data, "High Resolution Orthoimagery" checkbox. If you have a specific site in mind you can search a geographic area, otherwise you may search for them in the "Dataset Name" field under the "Additional Criteria" tab using "appalachian_trail_appa"

Digital 4-band—true-color and color-infrared—aerial imagery was acquired in the months of October during 3 years (2009–11) for the APPA vegetation mapping project using a plane-mounted digital camera. This set of imagery became the primary source for image interpretation and mapping. The aerial imagery was collected at a pixel resolution of 30.48 centimeters (centimeter measurement calculated from a standard 12-inch measurement). The goal of fall-dated imagery, particularly with the color infrared bands, was to capture peak leaf-phenology change of hardwood trees; thus, aiding mappers in viewing distinctions among various hardwood-forest types.

With the AT corridor being nearly 3,525 kilometers in length, the aerial imagery mission was flown in segments over 3 years to capture peak-leaf phenology, after leaf color change but prior to leaf fall. Priority was given to peak-leaf phenology in the higher elevations to ensure that all forest species were in leaf-on status for viewing on computers to successfully complete fieldwork and mapping.