The USGS Western Geographic Science Center in Menlo Park (formerly known as the Western Mapping Center) has been the leader in the field of orthoimagery and has been on the forefront of each generation of orthophoto production technology. Orthophoto production began at the Western Mapping Center (WMC) in 1964 using an instrument designed and built by the USGS. WMC hosted the nation’s first Orthophoto Forum in San Jose in 1973. Continuing through the 1980’s, the Western Mapping Center received and implemented three generations of orthophoto technology, but the mode was primarily analog and the production was very labor intensive. During this period, the production of orthophotos was done primarily in-house.

In 1986, WMC proposed and was granted approval to develop a prototype digital orthophoto (DOQ) production system. In 1991, the USGS joined with the U.S. Department of griculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service in creating the National Digital Orthophoto Program (NDOP) to ensure public domain availability of DOQ data for the nation. Full-scale production of DOQs at WMC began in 1991, when a total of 65 DOQs were delivered. Activity peaked in 1999 when the WMC was responsible for contract production and in-house production of 47,000 DOQs. By 2000, the WMC had directed a total of nearly $100 million to private-sector mapping contractors who produced DOQs that were then routed back through the WMC for verification. WMC employees worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day, to meet the work demand.

In 1997, the Western Mapping Center and Microsoft Corporation entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to make DOQs easily available to the public through the Terraserver Web site, which receives nearly 40,000 hits per day.

The DOQ program at WMC tapered off soon after 2000, once coverage of the conterminous United States was nearly complete, and production and contracting responsibilities were moved to the Mid-Continent Mapping Center in Rolla, Missouri. A small number of second- and third-generation DOQs are still (as of 2004) being produced at WMC to meet individual requirements.

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