Oxfordshire History Centre's collections of historic aerial photographs can be accessed in the following ways:

1. Online via Picture Oxon or the Heritage Search mapping platform
2. Digitally at Oxfordshire History Centre and Oxford Westgate Library only
3. In hard copy only at Oxfordshire History Centre

Aerial photos available online via Picture Oxon

• Hi-res zoomable images are available via the Picture Oxon website
• Use the side-panel filter to select the "Aerial Photos" Collection
  
• To fine-tune your results, add keywords to the search box for the name of the survey (e.g. “Fairey” or “Geonex”) and the place-name you are interested in.

Picture Oxon coverage

• Fairey 1961: much of pre-1974 county, but excluding Vale of White Horse, and southern parts of South Oxfordshire; chiefly 1:8,000 scale; black/white vertical; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.
• Astral 1981: Oxfordshire; 1:10,000 scale colour vertical; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.
• Geonex 1991: Oxfordshire; 1:10,000 scale colour vertical ; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.
• PhotoAir 1988-1997: 2,500 images of Oxfordshire landscapes and public or commercial building projects; colour; large scale (variable); vertical and oblique views. Searchable via place-name.
• We are currently working on making digital images from RAF late 1940s aerial photo mosaics of Oxfordshire available online on Picture Oxon. In the meantime, these can also be viewed via the National Library of Scotland website.  
  

Aerial photos available online via Heritage Search 

The mapping platform on Heritage Search includes feature layers for the following aerial photographic surveys whose centre points are plotted on a map of Oxfordshire, allowing you to roam around the county and select images visually, rather than by searching for a place-name:

• Select an Aerial Photos feature layer from the side panel (Fairey, Astral or Geonex).
• Move around the on-screen map, and zoom in and out, to identify your area of interest.
• Click on a highlighted aerial photo centre-point, linking through to the full Picture Oxon catalogue record and zoomable image.

Heritage Search coverage

• Fairey 1961: much of pre-1974 county, but excluding Vale of White Horse, and southern parts of South Oxfordshire; chiefly 1:8,000 scale; black/white vertical; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.
• Astral 1981: Oxfordshire; 1:10,000 scale colour vertical; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.
• Geonex 1991: Oxfordshire; 1:10,000 scale colour vertical ; searchable by place-name and by Ordnance Survey 1km grid squares.

Collections available digitally at Oxfordshire History Centre and Oxfordshire County Library

Coverage

• Oxfordshire County Council’s ArcGIS digital mapping service offers seamless layers of historic (but recent) aerial photography.

• These layers include digital images of the countywide vertical aerial surveys by Geosperspectives / InfoTerra for the years 1999, 2005 and 2009. 

Access

Access is possible via public computers at Oxfordshire History Centre and Oxford Westgate Library

Go to this page - www.oxfordshirehistory.org.uk/public/maps_oxfordshire.htm - then select the link to ArcGIS aerial photographs, 1999, 2005, 2009.

• Colour aerial images are presented with modern map features overlaid.
• Images can be viewed up to the optimum 1:1,250 scale.
• The map base is searchable by place, street, building or postcode.

Collections available in hard copy at Oxfordshire History Centre

• Visitors to Oxfordshire History Centre can consult supplementary hard copy collections of aerial photographs.
• These include a mixture of vertical (straight down) and oblique (at an angle) views, at a variety of scales, of selected urban and rural settlements and features around Oxfordshire.
• Paper copies of selected aerial photographs can be consulted in easy-to-use browser files, arranged according to Ordnance Survey (OS) grid reference, with an index of Oxfordshire place-names.
• Where no browser file copy is available, original aerial photographic prints can be consulted by appointment through the Photographic Officer.
• Note that the asterisked * collections below only offer selective and not complete countywide coverage.

Copying aerial photographs

There may be restrictions on the copying of some photographs, according to their copyright status. See our charges page for current copy costs.

Limited size (c.500 pixel) images can be freely downloaded and copied from the National Collection of Aerial Photography subscription website.

Snapshots can be taken from these zoomable aerial photograph images available on Picture Oxon, and remote users can purchase high resolution digital copies for instant download:

• Fairey 1961, Astral 1981, Geonex 1991, PhotoAir 1988-1997

Visitors to Oxfordshire History Centre can make self-service low-resolution copies (either A4 paper copies, or digital copies with a camera / tablet / smartphone) for non-commercial use or private study from these aerial surveys:

• Hard copy photographs in the browser files, including Aerofilms, RAF, Dept of the Environment and Ordnance Survey images.
• Digital Geoperspectives / Infoterra surveys, using our ArcGIS digital mapping package.
  

For high resolution copies of Aerofilms, RAF, Dept of the Environment and Ordnance Survey images, we will refer you to the relevant copyright holder.

Where else can I go?

Collections of Oxfordshire historic aerial photographs held by other institutions:

• Historic England Archive. For an even wider choice of aerial surveys we recommend you try the Historic England Archive aerial photo collections at Swindon.
• Britain from Above. Historic England also holds the complete Aerofilms collection of aerial photographic negatives, dating from 1919 to 1953, and is gradually publishing a selection online through their Britain from Above project, which already includes hundreds of Oxfordshire images which can be freely viewed and downloaded.