Aerial Mapping

             Wilbur Wright took the first aerial photograph from an airplane during a flight over Italy in 1909. By 1918 during world war I , French aerial units were taking 10000 aerial photos daily, mostly for interpretation. The British expeditionary force in Egypt experimented with using aerial photographs to prepare maps. By mid century aerial photographers and cartographers were preparing basic topographic map coverage for much of the world. Measurements were taken directly from photographs, which become substitutes for costly and time consuming ground surveys. Later, with the introduction of sensing devices beyond the normal visual range of film, many new kind of maps were produced.