A man with dyed red hair and wearing a blue lab coat and black gloves lifts the lid of a scanner with his left hand. His right hand reaches for a black winding handle. A screen, boxes of gloves and other scanners are out of focus in the foreground.

Scanning is just one of many steps in the process making NCAP imagery available.
One of the 60 manual workstations operated by the NCAP digitisation team.

Our Work

At the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP), we're passionate about the preservation and sharing of aerial imagery. We specialise in collecting and caring for aerial photographs, providing a unique view of our changing landscapes over time.

In this section

A purple gloved hand reaches in from the left. They are using a brush with a white handle to brush the surface of a black and white photographic print towards the nozzle of a black vacuum cleaner. There are other images and boxes on the table.

Collections Care

Making sure photographic collections are cleaned and stable before any scanning has started underpins all work at NCAP.

A man wearing a blue lab coat and black gloves raises the lid of an image scanner on a desk to allow them to feed film across it. The film runs between two spools on either side. There is other scanning equipment out of focus in the background.

Digital Imaging

Using the latest scanning technology, skilled technicians and robotic systems NCAP operates a highly productive digitisation facility.

Two hands wearing grey gloves hold a slim cardboard box. They appear to be moving the box, and the bundle of boxes piled beneath it, on to the white shelving behind.

Cataloguing and Access

All collections held by NCAP are open public record, once catalogued they are made available to the public.

A white gloved hand reaches in from the right of the frame. The hand is holding a barcode scanner, which is shining a thin strip of red light on to a barcode. The barcode is stuck to the top of a black cylindrical tube.

Data Management

At peak efficiency, NCAP can create nearly 2TB of data a day which needs to be managed, transferred and secured for long-term preservation.