QImagery Help

Home Page

The Home page consists of a map with map-related tools in the corners and a banner running down the left-hand side of the application. The banner has 4 functions: Search, Images, Help and Contact Us.

Open

Toolbar icons

Zoom and positioning

Open

The map-related tools for zoom-in () and zoom-out () are in the bottom right corner, along with a tool to locate your current position (). Depending on the device, scrolling the mouse wheel or pinching the screen can also be used to change the scale, i.e. zoom-in or zoom-out.

The tools for resetting the keymap and scrolling through previous views () can be found in the top-left corner of the page.

Map style (bottom left corner of the map) gives you a choice of 2 styles for the map; Satellite Imagery or Topographic.

1. The coordinates for the location of the cursor in Latitude/Longitude format, the scale of the map and the data sources for the map data can be found beneath the map style dialogue box.

2. The banner is host to four functions; Search, Images, Help and Customer Feedback.

3. Clicking the QImagery title at the top of the page will return the application to the Welcome page.

Search

To obtain a list of available images over a location requires a two-step process, find the location and then search for images:

Find Location

There are 6 search options to locate or define their area of interest. Click the Search icon (magnifying glass) in the banner and it will turn blue:

1. Locality, town or city
   Auto-complete functionality is in operation.

   • Point or shape
     There are 4 geometries available; search at a point, search along a line, search within a rectangle and search within a polygon. A tool tip will display on clicking each of the tools:

Search by Point – click or tap to add a point

Search by Line – press down to start and let go to finish

Search by Rectangle – press down to start and let go to finish

Search by Polygon – click or tap to start drawing, double-click or double-tap to finish

1. Address
   It must be a current address. Auto-complete functionality is in operation.

   1. Lot and Plan
      It must be a current cadastral description.

   2. Latitude and longitude

2. All Search options have prompts and examples specific to their attributes.

3. Click the Advanced Options button () to access the date and scale filters to narrows the search parameters and reduce the number of results. A number of options are available such as predetermined date ranges and scales, as well as the ability to define custom values. The scale ranges for the predetermined options are: Region: >= 70000City: < 7000 and >= 30000Neighbourhood: < 30000 and >= 15000Street: < 15000A buffer distance can also be added to the search geometry selected, e.g. a 1000m buffer around the selected locality.

The Search can be activated by clicking <Return> or clicking the magnifying glass icon in each Search option. Search criteria can be cleared by clicking the clear icon in each Search option.

• A successful search will return at least one result. Select the result to locate and zoom to the feature on the map. The selected feature will be highlighted in blue dependent upon the geometry of the feature.

• The Search options can be restored by clicking in the blue banner.

• The Search options can be hidden by clicking the Search icon which has changed to blue.

Obtain List of Images

When the defined area of interest has been located a search for images can be activated by clicking the Search button beside the selected location.

Prior to initiating the search, parameters relating to the criteria; date of flying and scale of the imagery, can be configured in the Advanced Options menu. A buffer distance in metres can also be input to extend the search extent surrounding the area of interest. The selected layer for the search is Qld. Aerial Photographs. To reset the Advanced Options select All Layers.

Images

• The Images icon changes to blue.

• A list of images grouped by projects in boxes will be returned, along with the number of images over the selected feature or search area.

• The extent of the selected feature or search area will be highlighted in green.

• Return to the Search menu by clicking the Search icon (click the Image icon to return to the Images).

• The list of projects is sorted by date, most recent to oldest, by scale largest to smallest (i.e. smallest ratio to greatest ratio), in alphabetic order A to Z.

Click the menu button in the top right corner of project box to reveal options to Show Outlines (i.e. footprints of the images) and to zoom to the full extent of the images in the project that cover the selected feature or search area. Any projects that have the footprints turned on will have the icon in the top right corner of project tab shaded blue.

• Click the project tab and the list of images will cascade. Attributes relating to the project and each image will be displayed.

• Click the Licence icon to display the licence conditions for the images within the project. You will be directed to an external website.

Viewing Image Footprints

• When the Show Outlines options is checked () the image footprints will become visible (outlined in dotted red). Uncheck the box to make them invisible.

• The footprint will highlight in solid red during hovering by the pointing device, e.g. mouse, finger, etc. The corresponding record in the listing will also highlight shaded blue. The footprint will also highlight in red when the corresponding record in the listing is hovered over by the pointing device, e.g. mouse, finger, etc.

• Clicking a footprint in the map will open the project that the image belongs to and scrolls to the record in the list. The record will highlight in blue and blink for 5 seconds.

Viewing Images

Click the View button to view the image on the map.

Click the Zoom To button () to zoom to the full extent of the image.

Below the box in the top right corner of project tab is an eye icon (). The number beside the icon indicates the number of images viewable for that project on the map.

Images from different projects can be viewed at the same time. The ordering of the images, i.e. which ones are on top or bottom, can be performed by turning the images on or off through the use of the View button.

Downloading Images

1. Click the Download button to download the image and/or associated World File on the map to device being used.

2. For Historical Aerial Photography initiate the download by selecting the Raster Image or World File (Coordinates) options.

3. For the QSat 2017 240cm Planet satellite imagery initiate the download by selecting the TIFF (georeferenced) or JPEG (not georeferenced) options.

4. Only one image or World File can be downloaded at one time.

5. The method of the download function is dependent on your Internet browser.

6. The format of the World File is specific to Esri ArcGIS.

7. For GIS applications that require the input of a Projection/Coordinate Reference System (CRS) use Web Mercator which is also referred to as EPSG:3857 or WGS84/Pseudo Mercator.

8. The Historical Aerial Photographs will display “clipped” without the full frames to create a virtual, seamless mosaic effect. However, the downloaded images will show the full frame with additional information such as photo identification, run number, datum etc.

Using Downloaded Images

Images downloaded from QImagery must be acknowledged when used. Images downloaded are made available with either a Creative Commons by Attribution licence (CC-BY), Creative Commons by Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) licence or a Public Domain use right (where government or commercial copyright has expired).

Information on Creative Commons licensing visit https://creativecommons.org/faq/.

Acknowledging State of Queensland

Please ensure the following acknowledgment accompanies any of State of Queensland’s aerial photography (QAP Film Numbers): © State of Queensland <year of publication.> https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Acknowledging Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Please ensure the following acknowledgment accompanies any of the Commonwealth of Australia (including Royal Australian Air Force) aerial photography: © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) <year of publication.> https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Acknowledging Planet Labs

Queensland Department of Resources requests attribution in the following manner:

© Planet Labs Netherlands B.V. <year of publication>, reproduced under licence from Planet and Geoplex, all rights reserved. Data acquired under the QSat initiative. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Public Domain

When publishing it is requested to acknowledge the original owner: State of Queensland, Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia), Brisbane City Council (BCC Film Numbers), or AAM Group Pty Ltd (Brisbane 1936 photography). https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Contact Us

Tips and Tricks

1. A maximum limit of 1000 image records applies to results from a search. If this limit is reached the following message will be displayed: “The maximum number of images has been exceeded. Not all of the projects covering this area may be included in the result. Please narrow your search using filters or search using a smaller area.” Whilst a list of Projects and images will accompany this warning, the listing is incomplete for both the number of Projects and the images for each Project.

2. The operation and look and feel of the download function is dependent upon the device and internet browser used.

3. When images from multiple Projects with different scales are displayed in the map there will be differences noticed with both the extent of the coverage of the images and the clarity of the detail when zooming in.

4. Click QImagery above the map to return to the Welcome Page.

Available Imagery

Coverage

QImagery contains Historical Aerial Photography captured dated from the 1930s to 2009, and the QSat 2017 240cm Planet Q3 satellite imagery. There are more than 800,000 historical aerial photographs.  Additional Imagery is progressively being added as the aerial film digitisation project continues.

Quality and resolution

Historical Aerial Photography available through QImagery under open licencing is down sampled to 400dpi to enhance ease of access (bandwidth) at a minor loss of image quality. The resolution varies according to the flying height of the aircraft for a particular project.

The Quality statement for the QSat 2017 240cm Planet Q3 satellite imagery can viewed on the Queensland Spatial Catalogue (QSpatial) at http://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/search.page?q=title:%22Queensland%20Satellite%20Data%20-%20QSat_2017_240cm_Planet_Q3%22 . It is currently 2.4 metres which is low resolution.

Locational Accuracy

1. The Historical Aerial Photography images viewable in the QImagery web application have been geo-located via an algorithm that rotates and scales each photograph to approximate size, based on the recorded geographical position of the photograph’s centroid (central point).

2. The centroids may have been digitised direct from key diagrams that may have been incorrectly produced in the first instance, or hand-drawn to varying levels of accuracy. On occasion this could result in photographs being displayed in QImagery out of position, or rotated and scaled incorrectly.

3. In addition, each raw photographic image contains distortions, particularly around the edges, which is a common artefact of camera lenses and the photographic process.

4. The Department intends to progress rectification of the Historical Aerial Photography which, through a rigorous geometric rectification process, will enable the accurate overlay of other spatial datasets.

5. The Department welcomes feedback on corrections to the location and incorrect display of Historical Aerial Photography in QImagery.

6. The positional accuracy of the QSat 2017 240cm Planet Q3 satellite imagery can viewed on the Queensland Spatial Catalogue (QSpatial) at http://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/search.page?q=title:%22Queensland%20Satellite%20Data%20-%20QSat_2017_240cm_Planet_Q3%22

Queensland’s State Imagery

Queensland’s State Imagery History

For more information on the history of aerial photography and imagery in Queensland visit https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/museum-of-lands/imagery-history/ .

Department of Resources' Imagery Role and Responsibilities, Recent Imagery Discovery and Access

For information on the Spatial Imagery Subscription Plan, access to recent orthophotography data, or access to the high resolution Historical Aerial Photography, visit the Queensland Government’s Business and Industry portal.