2016 Massachusetts NAIP Digital Ortho Photo Imagery

This data set contains imagery from the National Agriculture

Imagery Program (NAIP). The NAIP program is administered by

USDA FSA and has been established to support two main FSA

strategic goals centered on agricultural production.

These are, increase stewardship of America's natural resources

while enhancing the environment, and to ensure commodities

are procured and distributed effectively and efficiently to

increase food security. The NAIP program supports these goals by

acquiring and providing ortho imagery that has been collected

during the agricultural growing season in the U.S. The NAIP

ortho imagery is tailored to meet FSA requirements and is a

fundamental tool used to support FSA farm and conservation

programs. Ortho imagery provides an effective, intuitive

means of communication about farm program administration

between FSA and stakeholders.

New technology and innovation is identified by fostering and

maintaining a relationship with vendors and government

partners, and by keeping pace with the broader geospatial

community. As a result of these efforts the NAIP program

provides three main products: DOQQ tiles,

Compressed County Mosaics (CCM), and Seamline shape files

The Contract specifications for NAIP imagery have changed

over time reflecting agency requirements and improving

technologies. These changes include image resolution,

horizontal accuracy, coverage area, and number of bands.

In general, flying seasons are established by FSA and are

targeted for peak crop growing conditions. The NAIP

acquisition cycle is based on a minimum 3 year refresh of base

ortho imagery. The tiling format of the NAIP imagery is based

on a 3.75' x 3.75' quarter quadrangle with a 300 pixel buffer

on all four sides. NAIP quarter quads are formatted to the UTM

coordinate system using the North American Datum of 1983.

NAIP imagery may contain as much as 10% cloud cover per tile.

Original contact information:

Contact Org: Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO)

Phone: 801-844-2922

Email: apfo.sales@slc.usda.gov

NAIP imagery is available for distribution within 60 days

of the end of a flying season and is intended to provide current

information of agricultural conditions in support of USDA farm

programs. For USDA Farm Service Agency, the 1 meter and 1/2 meter

GSD product provides an ortho image base for Common Land Unit

boundaries and other data sets. The 1 meter and 1/2 meter NAIP

imagery is generally acquired in projects covering full states in

cooperation with state government and other federal agencies that

use the imagery for a variety of purposes including land use

planning and natural resource assessment. The NAIP is also used

for disaster response. While suitable for a variety of uses,

prior to 2007 the 2 meter GSD NAIP imagery was primarily intended

to assess "crop condition and compliance" to USDA farm program

conditions. The 2 meter imagery was generally acquired only

for agricultural areas within state projects.

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32-bit pixels, 4 band color(RGBIR) values 0 - 255

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Users must assume responsibility to determine the appropriate use of these data. DATA SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR LEGALLY BINDING APPLICATIONS.

There are no limitations for access.

None. The USDA-FSA Aerial Photography Field office

asks to be credited in derived products.

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NAIP horizontal accuracy specifications have evolved over

the life of the program. From 2003 to 2004 the

specifications were as follows: 1-meter GSD imagery was

to match within 3-meters, and 2-meter GSD to match within 10

meters of reference imagery. For 2005 the 1-meter GSD

specification was changed to 5 meters matching the reference

imagery. In 2006 a pilot project was performed using true

ground specifications rather than reference imagery. All

states used the same specifications as 2005 except Utah,

which required a match of +/- 6 meters to true ground.

In 2007 all specifications were the same as 2006 except

Arizona used true ground specifications and all other states

used reference imagery. In 2008 and subsequent years

no 2-meter GSD imagery was acquired and all specifications

were the same as 2007 except approximately half of the

states acquired used true ground specifications and the

other half used reference imagery. The 2008 states that

used absolute ground control where; Indiana, Minnesota,

New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia.

From 2009 to present all NAIP imagery acquisitions used

the +/- 6 meters to ground specification.

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NAIP 3.75 minute tile file names are based

on the USGS quadrangle naming convention.