User:MECU/USGSSeamlessViewer

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Instructions on how to use the USGS Seamless Viewer

The viewer can be found at: http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.php

[edit] FAQ

Why is this useful? 
This is a source of free images, that can be used at Wikimedia Commons.
Why are these images free/not copyrighted? 
The images are provided, created, and retrieved by a US Federal Government Agency, the USGS. This allows
What is the USGS? 
United States Geological Survey Website
What will this help me with? 
This is intended to help you to the image you want, and upload to Wikimedia Commons. The viewer is not very easy to use, and to encourge its use by others to generate images for Commons and Wikipedia, I created this. If you want a satellite image of an building/feature that is near a major geographical area (see below), then this is for you.
What are the limitations? 
Not all areas of the USA have satellite images on this system, and few (if any) non-USA areas are included. Generally only major geographical areas and major cities are included. You can search for other areas, but you may be disappointed. Further, even some of the areas included are in B&W. The viewer is also rather slow and innernet connection heavy. Please be patient, and if you have a slow connection, I wouldn't reccommend using this.

[edit] Directions

[edit] Using the Viewer

  1. Goto the viewer at [1].
  2. Click the Zoom to Region button [2]
  3. At the bottom of the page, select a Locale (preferred). If the area you want is not listed, select the State.
  4. Click on the Zoom In button [3]
  5. Click on the map where to zoom in. You should be able to tell where cities are within the state based upon the roads that are showing. After one or several clicks, the larger city names will appear to assist you. Each click will zoom in one level. Be sure to WAIT after the view fully finishes the image before clicking, or it may get confused and reset to the full USA size image and you will have to start over.
  6. Once you get to at least the 1:1,933,086 scale (see top right of screen under Scale Information, I recommend zooming in much further, but this will show you all the available satellite areas), click on the arrow next to Orthoimagery. Check the box next to the major city near where you are (if none is listed, you are probably out of luck, you can try the others, but they probably won't be satellite images). For example, near Denver it is listed at Denver (Apr 2002). Do not select the ones marked "index" (ie, Denver (Apr 2002) Index). Once you check a box, WAIT up to a minute. It may not appear to be doing anything, but it is. You will notice when the data is then fully loaded.
  7. If you see the item you want, you can keep clicking to zoom in on that object. If not, you can scroll/pan the image by clicking the pan button [4], clicking and holding the map and dragging the image the direction towards where you believe your object is. Once you release the button, wait for the image to regenerate.
  8. Once you have the image you want on the screen (size on the screen does not affect final image size), click on Download near Display under Layers. Un-click the 1" Ned that is pre-selected. Click on the arrow next to Orthoimagery. Select the same check box that you clicked before (ie, Denver (Apr 2002)).
  9. Click the define download area button [5]. Then click and drag the box (any direction) over the area that you want the final image of.
  10. Once you let go of the mouse button, a new browser window will popup (my Firefox Popup Blocker didn't block it, but yours may). Click on the Download button. Another broswer window will popup (again, Firefox didn't block this) and show you the status while it generates the image. Once it is complete, the save file dialog box will pop up and you should select save. The file will be a ZIP file.
  11. You can now close the two popup broswer windows.
  12. Open the ZIP file, and look for the file with a .tif extension. This is the image you selected.
  13. You should change the filetype of the image from the TIF to JPG (or other format) to make it smaller. I reduced an image from 2MB to <200KB when I did this. I used Microsoft Paint, but most simple image/paint programs that allows you to save an image in a different format are fine.

[edit] =Uploading Image to Wikimedia Commons

  1. Goto: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload
  2. Browse to the file and select it.
  3. Be sure to follow the directions and use the template. A description that says something to the effect that you found the image using the USGS Seamless Viewer should be included.
  4. In the dropdown box, select Original work of US Federal Government - public domain

[edit] Alternative Location Locating Directions

  1. You can use the search for a geographical area button [6] to find a location perhaps faster. Type in just the city name that your item is in. Then, search through the resulting table at the bottom and click on Goto to goto that area. Use the Zoom In button to get to the item you want. There will probably be several results of the item you searched for, including in different states. Just keep trying until you find the one you want.