Open a university year/flight directory in another tab, select and copy the filename listing, then paste it here. This adds listed image links; you can still test each image in Preview. For 1933, the university has three distinct folders (1933, 1933a, 1933b). The original discovery backup remains separate.
Choose a year/folder, open its flight directory, and paste the entire listing.Explore historic aerial photographs of Ottawa and Gatineau by survey year and flight. On touchscreens, photo pins have larger, finger-friendly tap areas. Each blue dot marks the approximate centre of a photograph. When you click a dot, a dashed orange circle gives a rough coverage guide derived from the listed photo scale, assuming a standard 9-inch aerial negative. It is not a surveyed image boundary; original film dimensions, camera geometry, tilt, orientation, cropping, and terrain may differ. Do not use the circle to rule a location in or out of a photograph.
A2199_49.Map background: Choose Esri streets, Esri topographic, satellite imagery, or the locally stored 1953 historical topographic map. Switching backgrounds preserves your map position, zoom, photo pins, and selected flight. Satellite imagery is modern, not a historical aerial survey. Your choice is remembered when browser storage is available.
Flight highlighting: Select a flight to show its photo centres in amber, without connecting lines. With Show neighbouring flights checked, other flights from the chosen year remain as blue dots so you can see overlaps. Uncheck it to show only the selected flight. Use Zoom to flight to fit its indexed photo centres on the map. When All years is selected, nearby dots can include other years.
Photos with image links only: When checked, the map shows locations linked to university image filenames, and the Survey Year menu lists only years with matched images. Uncheck it to include all indexed survey years, including years without online photographs.
Show approximate coverage on pin click: Toggle the orange dashed guide on or off. It is displayed for one selected photo at a time to keep the map readable. The estimated circle diameter is about 0.229 metres multiplied by the photo scale denominator (for example, about 2.3 km at 1:10,000). The circle is only a visual aid, not a verified footprint.
Photo loading: Only the selected photograph is requested. Previously viewed photographs may load faster from your browser cache. The image is displayed directly as the browser receives it; a small status message appears if loading takes longer than a moment.
Slow or failed images: If a photograph takes more than 15 seconds, the viewer explains that it is still loading. A failed download offers a Retry photograph button; the original full-image link remains available.
Browse a flight: In a photograph preview, use Previous / Next or the left/right arrow keys to move through the available digitized photographs in that flight. Press Escape to close the preview. A status message appears if a new scan takes more than a moment; the sequence follows photograph numbers and skips missing images.
Year counts: Shows how many indexed and matched locations are available by year.
Add university directory listing matches copied JPEG filenames to indexed photo locations. Export / Import directory matches backs up those additions. Export / Import discoveries separately backs up links verified through the preview feature. These advanced controls are optional for ordinary browsing.
The Ottawa Historical Aerial Photo Finder is an independent, non-commercial historical research project intended to make historical aerial photographs of Ottawa and the surrounding region easier to locate and explore.
Aerial photograph information and image links are drawn from publicly accessible resources provided by the University of Ottawa aerial photograph archive and the National Air Photo Library geographic index. Photograph scans and previews are provided by their respective external sources.
The 1953 historical topographic map is derived from a historical Canadian government map made available through the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) historical topographic map collection. Other map backgrounds use Esri tiles.
Photographs, maps and associated materials remain subject to any applicable rights and usage conditions of their respective sources. This website is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the University of Ottawa, the National Air Photo Library, or OCUL.
Photo locations and coverage guides are approximate, image availability can change, and large scans may take time to load. Neighbouring photographs are not preloaded, to avoid competing downloads. An internet connection is required for the map background and online photographs.
Version 34.7 · The map is also available online via GitHub Pages; the HTML file can still be opened locally. No installation or JSON import is needed for the links already built into this version, including ArcGIS catalogue links for 1,117 digitized Ottawa photographs.