Link to TerraServer Imagery

Introduction

This page describes how to incorporate TerraServer imagery or topographical maps in your web pages or Microsoft .NET application. The images on TerraServer from the U.S. Geological Survey are in the public domain, and are freely available for you to download, use and re-distribute. The TerraServer team and the USGS appreciate credit for their work on this project.

The foundation for using TerraServer imagery is an understanding of the concepts of map projection, image resolution and coordinate systems. This can be daunting if you are unfamiliar with the concepts, but any competent programmer or scientifically minded person has sufficient background. Our glossary and tutorials provide basic explanations and give links to additional resources. Once you have the concepts are mastered, it is relatively easy programming task.

There are two methods for linking to TerraServer images and data:

HTML Tags

On your web page you can create an tag that references the TerraServer image tile you wish to include. TerraServer returns either a Jpeg or GIF image 200 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. You can also build a larger image with more than one tile by surrounding the "center tile of reference" with additional tiles. Click here for further information.

TerraServer .NET Web Service

Microsoft .NET enables developers to create programs that transcend device boundaries and fully harness the connectivity of the Internet. The TerraServer-USA .NET Web Service (TerraService for short) is a programmable interface to the TerraServer-USA on-line database of high resolution USGS aerial imagery (DOQs) and scanned USGS topographical maps (DRGs). Using Microsoft .NET technologies, developers can easily incorporate TerraServer imagery and other data into their web sites or .NET WinForm applications. Click here for further information.