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How do I search for an image?
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Searching for an image is done using the Image Search feature at the top left of the site. You can enter a search using an address, coordinates, or PLSS information.
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Do I have to know the entire address?
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You only need to enter as much information as you have. If you are simply looking for a city, all you will need to enter is the city and the state or country. You must have the city name or a zip code. The more information you enter, the more specific your results will be.
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Do I have to know the entire zip code including the plus four digits?
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No, you only need to know the five digit zip code or the city and state.
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Can I search using an intersection?
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There is an intersection search feature. In the address bar, simple the type the name of the intersection as follows: "Street A at Street B" and then fill the city and state out.
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What if my location is in another country?
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You may search international locations by changing the Country input found at the top of the Image Search feature. This will allow you to input a city and province if the country you are searching has provinces. If you do not get any international results, try using an alternate spelling of the city.
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Can I search using coordinates?
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You may search using coordinates by clicking on the coordinates tab at the top of the Image Search feature. Our site allows you to search using lat/long coordinates as well as UTM coordinates.
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What if I have decimal degrees?
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You may search using decimal degrees by entering the number in the degrees box and ignoring the minutes and seconds box.
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What if I have degrees and decimal minutes?
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You may search using degrees and decimal minutes by entering the whole degrees in the degrees box and the decimal minutes in the minutes box while leaving the seconds box empty.
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What if I have degrees that contain a negative sign?
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The negative sign indicates direction. If your Latitude is negative, simply neglect the negative sign and change the latitude to South. If your Longitude is negative, simply neglect the negative sign and change the longitude to West.
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What if I have UTM Coordinates?
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Select the Coordinates tab and then change Latitude/Longitude selection to UTM Coordinates. The Search Feature should then switch over to allow you to search UTM Coordinates.
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What are UTM Coordinates?
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The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth. It is used to identify location on the earth, but differs from the traditional method of latitude and longitude in several respects.
The UTM system is not a single map projection. The system instead employs a series of sixty zones, each of which is based on a specifically defined Transverse Mercator. For more information on this system, please visit Wikipedia.
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What if I want to search by township?
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Click on the Township tab at the top of the Image Search feature and enter the information that you know.
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What is a township?
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A township is a way of dividing up land that was put into place by the Land Ordinance of 1785 and applies to most states added to the United States after that point. The system is used in all states except Texas and Hawaii and any land that was under control of the original thirteen colonies, including Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maine. Townships are generally six miles by six miles and their location is defined off of a baseline and meridian.
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What is a principal? Do I need it?
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The principal is the baseline off of which the townships are defined. We recommend that you use the state that the township is located in rather than the principal simply because the formatting is more standard.
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Where are townships located?
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Townships are located in every state with the exception of Texas, Hawaii, and the thirteen original colonies and the land that they held dominion over at the time of the Land Ordinance of 1785. These include Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Maine.
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Where can I learn about townships?
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Can I search using GPS inputs?
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GPS coordinates is simply a misnomer for Latitude/Longitude Coordinates. You may enter your coordinates using that section.
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Can I search using PLSS inputs?
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Public Land Survey System inputs are the same as the Township/Range/Section inputs made available with the Image Search feature.
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An image came up, but how do I change images?
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You may change image dates and resolutions by clicking on the button titled Imagery within the Image Viewer.
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An image came up, but how do I look at a map?
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You may change over to a map view by clicking on the button titled Maps within the Image Viewer.
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I searched internationally and found no results. What am I doing wrong?
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Our Image Search feature can be picky about which spelling you use for an international city. Venice must be entered as Venetia, Rome as Roma, and Beijing as Peking. Try entering a different spelling of the city.
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An image came up but in the wrong location. What is wrong?
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Check to see that your spellings were correct. If the image information says that the image is of a location that it is obviously not, please Contact Us
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I searched for a location but the image is zoomed out very far. What is wrong?
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Our Image Viewer automatically zooms to a level in relation to how specific your search was. For example, an address search will have it zoom in much closer than a city search. If you searched something very specific and it zoomed out far, it may not have been able to locate that specific site.
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How does the zoom level relate to the search?
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Our zoom feature is directly related to how specific your search is. A zip code search will result in a zoom level that covers a much larger area than the zoom level used on a specific address search.
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Why can't I find the location I searched for in the viewer?
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When you search for a specific location, it will always be at the very center of the image when it first comes up.
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Why don’t you use a marker to mark the search location?
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We’ve considered the pros and cons of using a marker and determined that a marker is not necessary or accurate on our images. Most of the satellite image retailers use a similar reference source for the point and you will notice that in most cases, it is off by a little bit. We’d rather just not show it.
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I’m still having trouble. Is there anyone that I can contact?
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Absolutely. Please visit the Contact Page and fill out the Help & Support form.
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