Abstract
AbstractThe archive of aerial photographs, dating 1935–1941 and covering parts of north and central of Ethiopia, is one of the few archives with pre‐1960 remotely sensed data in Africa. It allows adding 30 years of time depth for geographical studies, in contrast to the commonly known oldest imagery dating to 1964, sometimes 1958. These photographs were originally acquired by the Italian military forces, to obtain raw material for warfare purposes and the production of topographic maps. To make the archive accessible, it has been scanned and georeferenced. Procedures used in georeferencing and digitally archiving are detailed in this paper, as well as our experiences with orthorectification and use of the photosets in scientific research. This data set of aerial photographs of Ethiopia in the 1930s has been availed to the wider scientific community through the Pangaea website http://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.920077 (Nyssen et al., 2020, Aerial photographs of Ethiopia 1935–1941) Additionally, a web interface (http://www.ethiopia1935.ugent.be/) allows scientists visualizing the location of relocated photographs, and to select and freely order scenes of interest.
Highlights
BACKGROUND & SUMMARYThere are few publications concerning digital archives of historical aerial photographs, mostly regarding the USA, California in 1938 (Ma, 2013), Illinois in the 1930s (Luman et al, 1997), the Everglades in the 1920s (Smith et al, 2010) or the overall USA (McAuliffe et al, 2017), and rarely from Europe such as Wales (Wilson et al, 2016)
Few digital archives of aerial photographs are available for the African continent (Table 1)
The aerial photographs (APs) of the 1930s were originally acquired by the Italian military forces, mostly by the 7th Topocartographic Section of the Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM), to obtain raw material for warfare purposes and the production of topographic maps during Italian occupation
Summary
BACKGROUND & SUMMARYThere are few publications concerning digital archives of historical aerial photographs, mostly regarding the USA, California in 1938 (Ma, 2013), Illinois in the 1930s (Luman et al, 1997), the Everglades in the 1920s (Smith et al, 2010) or the overall USA (McAuliffe et al, 2017), and rarely from Europe such as Wales (Wilson et al, 2016). For Ethiopia, an archive of aerial photographs (APs), dating 1935–1941 and covering large parts of the northern and central parts of the country, is available.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
