Ayres Associates provided the Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization with digital, color orthoimagery services in 2025. The aerial imagery was collected on April 20th and May 3rd using an UltraCam Osprey 4.1 sensor mounted in a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with Inertial Measurment Unit (IMU) and Airborne GPS. Aerial imagery was collected to support 0.25 foot ground sample distance (GSD) orthoimagery to meet the National Mapping Accuracy Standard (NMAS) for 1"=50' scale mapping. The horizontal accuracy meets or exceeds NMAS requirements, stating that 90% of all test points be within 1/30th of an inch at mapping scale. Resultant orthoimagery was rectified to a DEM surface created from existing LiDAR data. Orthoimagery was delivered in PLSS quarter section GeoTIFF, ECW, and MrSID tiles and a project-wide ECW and MrSID mosaic. Additional Information: The Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization is a certified planning entity in the State of North Dakota and Minnesota and is comprised of the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. The purpose of the MPO is to provide a forum for public officials, citizens, and other interested groups to establish policies and plans for effectively addressing various metropolitan transportation issues. The MPO has a planning process that supports metropolitan community development and social goals. These plans and programs shall lead to the development of an integrated, inter-modal metropolitan transportation system that facilitates the efficient, economic movement of people and goods.

This data covers the entirety of the 2025 Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization Orthophotography Initiative. Photo positioning was obtained through the use of Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Airborne Global Positioning System (ABGPS) and ground-based GPS technology. The imagery was collected using an UltraCam Osprey 4.1 sensor at 7.25cm GSD. Imagery was captured in the absence of haze, fog, smoke, snow, ice, and dust, while streams were within the normal confines of their banks, and while clouds or cloud shadows were limited to 5% of the area of any one image; Image quality was verified during the post flight review phase. A rigorous Aerotriangulation process was performed and supplemented by the ground control. The triangulated strips were rectified using a DEM created from existing LiDAR data. The imagery was mosiacked using manual seamline generation and tone/color balanced to a project-wide consistency. PLSS quarter section RGBI tiles were extracted from the mosiac and each individual tile was reviewed for artifacts and anomalies and adjusted as part of quality control procedures. The images were reviewed for rectification problems such as bridge displacements and seamline issues caused by the underlying digital elevation model. When necessary, local corrections to the imagery were performed to minimize such effects. Images were color corrected to match adjacent flight lines. The resulting imagery was tonally adjusted in terms of contrast and color to form a radiometrically consistent orthophoto mosaic.

Ayres Associates provided the Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization with digital, color orthoimagery services in 2025. The aerial imagery was collected on April 20th and May 3rd using an UltraCam Osprey 4.1 sensor mounted in a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with Inertial Measurment Unit (IMU) and Airborne GPS. Aerial imagery was collected to support 0.25 foot ground sample distance (GSD) orthoimagery to meet the National Mapping Accuracy Standard (NMAS) for 1"=50' scale mapping. The horizontal accuracy meets or exceeds NMAS requirements, stating that 90% of all test points be within 1/30th of an inch at mapping scale. Resultant orthoimagery was rectified to a DEM surface created from existing LiDAR data. Orthoimagery was delivered in PLSS quarter section GeoTIFF, ECW, and MrSID tiles and a project-wide ECW and MrSID mosaic. Additional Information: The Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization is a certified planning entity in the State of North Dakota and Minnesota and is comprised of the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. The purpose of the MPO is to provide a forum for public officials, citizens, and other interested groups to establish policies and plans for effectively addressing various metropolitan transportation issues. The MPO has a planning process that supports metropolitan community development and social goals. These plans and programs shall lead to the development of an integrated, inter-modal metropolitan transportation system that facilitates the efficient, economic movement of people and goods.

This data covers the entirety of the 2025 Grand Forks – East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization Orthophotography Initiative. Photo positioning was obtained through the use of Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Airborne Global Positioning System (ABGPS) and ground-based GPS technology. The imagery was collected using an UltraCam Osprey 4.1 sensor at 7.25cm GSD. Imagery was captured in the absence of haze, fog, smoke, snow, ice, and dust, while streams were within the normal confines of their banks, and while clouds or cloud shadows were limited to 5% of the area of any one image; Image quality was verified during the post flight review phase. A rigorous Aerotriangulation process was performed and supplemented by the ground control. The triangulated strips were rectified using a DEM created from existing LiDAR data. The imagery was mosiacked using manual seamline generation and tone/color balanced to a project-wide consistency. PLSS quarter section RGBI tiles were extracted from the mosiac and each individual tile was reviewed for artifacts and anomalies and adjusted as part of quality control procedures. The images were reviewed for rectification problems such as bridge displacements and seamline issues caused by the underlying digital elevation model. When necessary, local corrections to the imagery were performed to minimize such effects. Images were color corrected to match adjacent flight lines. The resulting imagery was tonally adjusted in terms of contrast and color to form a radiometrically consistent orthophoto mosaic.