Image Collection Millennium Mapping
A colour aerial photo with a park containing trees and red paths at the left, and Buckingham Palace in the bottom left corner. The River Thames is to the right with the London Eye lying flat over it. The shadow of Big Ben is to the right of centre.

The London Eye under construction, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace
Collection: Getmapping, Sortie: MMC/0106, Frame: 0081 (04 September 1999)

Millennium Mapping

Millennium Mapping refers to the individual Getmapping Collection and UK Perspectives Collection held by the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP). In 1998, these two parallel and competing projects began to photograph the United Kingdom to create a visual record of the country at the turn of the millennium.

A colour aerial photo of countryside. A dark blue river meanders from the bottom left corner to the top right. There are wooded hills to the right and a small village in the top right corner. The green fields are divided by hedgerows and trees.
The River Dee at Cynwyd in Denbighshire, north Wales; Collection: Getmapping, Sortie: MMC/0330, Frame: 0464 (22 May 2001)

History

Getmapping plc began in November 1998 as the Millennium Mapping Company (MMC). Its mission was to produce the Millennium Map, the first complete cover of the UK in colour at 1:10,000 scale. Photography was flown by Cooper Aerial Surveys, with film processing and scanning carried out by Wildgoose.

In 1999, MMC's first year of flying, 70% of England was photographed. In January 2000, the company was re-branded as Getmapping and by the end of the year the remainder of England and Wales had been photographed. From 2000, central Scotland was covered at 1:10,000, with the southern-central highlands being photographed at 1:20,000. Getmapping then won a contract with Ordnance Survey to subsequently fly the Scottish Highlands over a two-year period at 1:12,000 scale. In 2004, the last year of the project, Getmapping began a programme to re-fly areas of southern England at larger scale using digital aerial cameras.

A colour aerial photo of London. A muddy River Thames runs across the top left quadrant with a railway parallel to it. Battersea Power Station is in the bottom left corner and the green of The Oval stands out at the middle of the right edge.
The Oval Cricket Ground, its distinctive gas holders and Battersea Power Station; Collection: Getmapping, Sortie: MMC/0106, Frame: 0079 (04 September 1999)

UK Perspectives (UKP) was a partnership between two of the UK's major mapping companies, Simmons Aerofilms and NRSC Ltd (previously the National Remote Sensing Centre). Launched in 1998, the UKP project was called the Millennium Aerial Photographic Survey (MAPS).

The two partners used their own photographic survey aircraft, equipped with metric cameras, to acquire colour aerial photography at a uniform scale of 1:10,000. Predominantly geared to the commercial market, from the outset the partners offered ortho-rectified imagery for professional use. Although the project had 'UK' in its title, the partners only collected photography of England and south Wales; other areas were not considered to be economically viable. Following the separate take-over of both partners, the project was dissolved in 2005.

A colour aerial photo of a motorway junction. Brown fields occupy the top right corner, there are green trees in the middle and houses along the bottom edge. The junction is to the right, with two parallel roads leading away from it to the left edge.
Seen from above, the M25/M23 interchange has an elegant geometric beauty; Collection: Getmapping, Sortie: MMC/0106, Frame: 0054 (04 September 1999)

Acquisition

Both collections were stored and managed by Bluesky International Ltd before their transfer to NCAP in 2015.

A colour aerial photo of an industrial part of Manchester, with a canal and railway running diagonally through the top half of the image. The football stadium is top right, and the cricket ground bottom right. They stand out as green rectangles.
Manchester, with the Old Trafford football and cricket stadia; Collection: Getmapping, Sortie: MMC/0239, Frame: 0344 (27 June 2000)

Scope

Between them, the two collections contain over 250,000 images providing complete cover of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland – apart from Orkney and Shetland – taken from the late 1990s through to the early 2000s.

Geographical coverage
England Ireland Northern Ireland
Scotland Wales

Collection contents

The Getmapping Collection is made up of:

  • c.137,400 images on 368 rolls of aerial survey film

The UK Perspectives Collection is made up of

  • c.113,600 images on 568 rolls of aerial survey film

Air Photo Finder

Some of these Collections have been digitised and are available to view on the Air Photo Finder.

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ArchivesSpace

These Collections are accessible via our Paid Image Search and Search Room services. Visit ArchivesSpace to learn about the Collection hierarchies.

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ArchivesSpace: Getmapping - external  ArchivesSpace: UK Perspectives - external

IN THIS SECTION

A black and white aerial photo of about a dozen ships pulled up on a beach. The land beyond the beach has been divided up into a grid, and the scene is slightly obscured by clouds or smoke.

Allied Central Interpretation Unit

The ACIU Collection is home to 5.5 million photographic reconnaissance images taken during the Second World War, providing a visual record of occupied Western Europe.

A colour aerial photo of the Wimbledon area in London. Streets of houses are visible at the right and left edges. A golf course with bunkers and trees occupies the middle. To the left of centre are about 20 tennis courts and a tennis stadium.

British Aerial Survey Firms

NCAP has extensive holdings of photography taken by several important British aerial survey companies over a period of 50 years.

A black and white aerial photo of a city on the edge of the sea. There are buildings and an industrial area in the centre and fields to the right. The photo has been marked with purple pencil highlighting blocks of buildings.

Defence Geographic Centre

The DGC Collection contains aerial photographs of locations around the world, originally used to create maps for issue to British and Commonwealth forces.

A black and white aerial photo of a city. The streets are arranged in a grid. There is a coastline to the right with an area of dark sea at the right-hand edge. To the left are two meandering watercourses and an area of undeveloped wetland.

Directorate of Overseas Surveys

The DOS Collection provides a unique historical perspective, recording the changing landscapes of much of the Commonwealth throughout the 20th century.

A black and white aerial photo of coastal wetlands. The image has the appearance of abstract swirls and patterns in shades of black, white and grey. There seem to be a few trees in the centre and an area of water to the left.

Environment Agency

The EA Collection is a valuable record of the quickly changing coastal landscapes of the south-east of England, from Bournemouth round to Gravesend.

A black and white aerial photomap of a town surrounded by an irregular grid of black and white fields. The photomap is annotated with place names – including Stargard, the name of the town – and is overlaid with numbered map grid squares.

German Air Force

The GX Collection contains photos taken by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, which were then used for intelligence purposes during the Cold War.

An oblique black and white aerial photo of a city with a coastline. The sea is at the bottom left corner. A small number of ships are on the water. The city is made up of what appears to be low-rise apartment blocks. There is a park in the centre.

Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre

The JARIC Collection holds millions of Cold War reconnaissance images and forms unique record of British interests and activities.

A black and white aerial photo of 17 planes at an airfield. The planes are all situated in bays off two tracks running vertically through the image – one light-coloured and one dark. The planes and tracks are surrounded by featureless fields.

Mediterranean Allied Photo Reconnaissance Wing

The MAPRW Collection contains c.150,000 aerial photographs taken during WWII by Allied units operating from North Africa and Italy.

A black and white oblique aerial photo of an airborne plane from side-on. The plane has one propellor and a see-through cockpit with the pilot visible. There is a rear-facing gun turret, and the fuselage is marked with an American star and ‘312’.

National Archives and Records Administration

The NARA Collection contains worldwide imagery digitised as part of a partnership with the United States National Archives and Records Administration.

A colour aerial photo of the sea, very dark blue to the left and white from the glare of the sun on the right. In the middle a thin peninsula covered in brown grass extends into the sea. It has white cliffs and ends in a series of individual stacks.

Natural Environment Research Council

The NERC Collection contains over 27,300 aerial photographs taken around Europe for research purposes on behalf of the British Geological Survey.

A colour aerial photo of islands surrounded by a deep blue sea. There is one big island left of centre and a small one to the right. The islands have green grass and a mix of rocky and sandy shores. The sea is light blue over the sand.

Scottish Office Air Photographs Unit

The Scottish Office APU Collection provides a remarkable, 100-year record of Scotland’s changing landscapes from 1.5 million aerial photos of Scotland.