Historic Aerials

About this app

Turn your phone into a virtual time machine. Explore historical aerial imagery from across the United States and see how landscapes, cities, and neighborhoods have changed through the decades. HistoricAerials lets you view historical aerial photography and map imagery from multiple decades directly on your mobile device. Instantly compare past and present imagery to understand how land use, development, and property boundaries have evolved over time. Because HistoricAerials imagery is fully orthorectified, locations shown in the imagery are spatially accurate. You can obtain precise geographic coordinates for features visible in historic imagery, even if those features have disappeared today. This makes it possible to locate forgotten structures, former industrial sites, abandoned roads, historic homesites, and other lost features directly in the field using GPS. This powerful research tool is used by: • Metal detector enthusiasts searching for old homesites, historic schools, and forgotten locations • Environmental consultants conducting Phase I Environmental Site Assessments • Archaeologists researching historical landscapes • Surveyors and engineers studying land development patterns • Oil & gas professionals locating historic well sites and legacy infrastructure • Real estate professionals investigating property history • Urban planners analyzing land use change • Historians and researchers exploring the past • Property owners and land investigators Key Features • View historical aerial imagery spanning multiple decades • Instantly compare past and present imagery • Fully orthorectified imagery that is spatially accurate • Obtain geographic coordinates for historic features and locations • Explore property history and land development patterns • Research sites for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) • Analyze historical land use and environmental change • Discover abandoned roads, rail lines, historic structures, and forgotten places • Frequently used to research historical land use in property boundary and land use disputes • Perfect for archaeology, metal detecting, environmental consulting, and land research • Access the HistoricAerials imagery library from anywhere HistoricAerials hosts the largest online collection of historical aerial imagery in the United States, allowing anyone to explore how landscapes, properties, and communities have changed over time. Now you can carry this virtual time machine with you wherever you go.

We’ve updated the design to improve the overall map experience by consolidating multiple buttons into a single expandable control, allowing users to see more of the map with less screen obstruction and providing a cleaner, more streamlined interface, along with general performance improvements and bug fixes.

Momentum comes from crawler snapshots for the tracked storefront. “Viral growth signal” means unusually fast recent rating gains; it is an indicator, not download data.

1. First observed Sep 4, 2026 · 5:00 AM Free