| Maps have been around for centuries, it is | | | | village; he followed this feat with another |
| hard to image how our forefathers were able | | | | depicting Paris in 1868. Unfortunately these |
| to so accurate depict the world with the | | | | aerial maps no longer exist, but James |
| limitations they face. Babylonian clay | | | | Wallace Black's aerial shot of Boston in 1860 |
| tablets are the earliest surviving signs of | | | | is still in existence today. |
| any maps made. These showed the world as | | | | |
| flat; because no one knows for sure when or | | | | By 1906, the full range of what could be done |
| where the first map was drawn the Babylonian | | | | with a camera in mid-air was being realized. |
| depiction hold the honor as the world's first | | | | Photographer George Lawrence captured the |
| map. This map was found in 1930 in present | | | | aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake of |
| day Iraq. | | | | 1906 using a number of kites equipped with |
| | | | cameras. This showed the use of aerial |
| While we can trace the history of maps to | | | | photographs as a map to identify what |
| ancient times, the history of aerial maps is | | | | destruction was done to the area. The first |
| much shorter. The discipline came about only | | | | such picture using an airplane was done by |
| after the advent of photography and flying. | | | | Wilber Wright, of the Wright brothers, in |
| The first aerial maps were photographs taken | | | | 1909. |
| from hot air balloons in the mid 1800s. The | | | | |
| first record aerial photograph was taken over | | | | Today many aerial maps are available from |
| France in 1858 by Nader (Gasper Felix | | | | Microsoft TerraServer, which includes |
| Tournachon). He took a picture of a French | | | | thousands of spy maps from the Cold War era. |
| village, Petit-Bectre from a hot air balloon. | | | | These are a great addition to the developing |
| This picture showed the houses in the | | | | knowledgebase on the history of aerial maps. |