{"id":18587,"date":"2019-01-13T15:01:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T21:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/?p=18587"},"modified":"2025-04-04T07:08:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:08:01","slug":"free-historical-imagery-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/free-historical-imagery-viewers\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Free Historical Imagery Viewers to Leap Back in the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>Do you want to leap backward in time and see <strong>how the world has changed<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to these <strong>historical imagery viewers<\/strong>, we can now take a leap back in time without needing a time machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The past comes alive through these <strong>historical maps<\/strong> to explore vintage imagery for nearly anywhere on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s get started on how to view historical imagery.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Google Earth Pro<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Google-Earth.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Imagery Google Earth\" class=\"wp-image-97241\" style=\"width:700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Google-Earth.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Google-Earth-300x144.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Google-Earth-678x326.jpg 678w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Google-Earth-768x369.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only is Google a world leader in geocoded addressing, but you can leap to the past with its historical time slider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From historical satellite to aerial photography, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/earth\/versions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Earth Pro<\/a> puts the whole world in your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, zoom into your area of interest. Click the time slider icon. Now, visit your neighborhood in the past.  You&#8217;ll know which years are available based on the thumbnails.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Esri\u2019s Wayback Living Atlas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"494\" src=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Esri-Wayback.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Imagery Esri Wayback\" class=\"wp-image-97242\" style=\"width:700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Esri-Wayback.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Esri-Wayback-300x148.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Esri-Wayback-678x335.jpg 678w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Esri-Wayback-768x379.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Esri has released its newest addition to the Living Atlas of the World. Basically, this collection of Earth curates essential geographic information that impacts people&#8217;s daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, this includes items such as weather, traffic, elevation, demographics, oceans, and urban systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of their enormous collection of maps, <a href=\"https:\/\/livingatlas.arcgis.com\/wayback\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Esri\u2019s Wayback Living Atlas<\/a> lets users browse historical imagery back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, in the introductory phase, their collection of imagery is growing and evolving into a must-have platform for map historians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/living-atlas-of-the-world\/\">The Living Atlas of the World by Esri<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. USGS LandLook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-USGS-Landlook.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Imagery USGS Landlook\" class=\"wp-image-97244\" style=\"width:700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-USGS-Landlook.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-USGS-Landlook-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-USGS-Landlook-678x273.jpg 678w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-USGS-Landlook-768x309.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For rapid viewing of Sentinel-2 and Landsat imagery, the <a href=\"https:\/\/landsatlook.usgs.gov\/explore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USGS Land Look<\/a> spans back to 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First, load your images by filtering the days, years, cloud cover, and sensors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next, you can play a video displaying each scene in your time span.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finally, if you want to export your scenes as PNG, GeoTIFF, or JPG, you can select the &#8220;export&#8221; tool.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, USGS Land Look is ideal for <strong>searching historical imagery<\/strong> that is part of the Sentinel-2 and Landsat archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alternatively, if you want to dig into USGS&#8217;s giant collection of about 7 million scanned historical images, take a trip to the <a href=\"https:\/\/earthexplorer.usgs.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USGS Earth Explorer<\/a>. To get started, we put together this step-by-step <a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/usgs-earth-explorer-download-free-landsat-imagery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USGS Earth Explorer tutorial<\/a>. Instead of satellite imagery, your search criteria would be &#8220;Aerial Imagery&#8221;.  Some of my favorites are NAIP, DOQ, and the mosaics.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. NASA Worldview<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"477\" src=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Worldview.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Imagery NASA Worldview\" class=\"wp-image-97245\" style=\"width:700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Worldview.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Worldview-300x143.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Worldview-678x323.jpg 678w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Worldview-768x366.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> has 600 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Albeit, they&#8217;re coarser than the others on this list. But essentially, they show the entire Earth as it looks &#8220;right now&#8221;. Actually, it&#8217;s updated within three hours of observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you&#8217;re probably asking: this isn&#8217;t <strong>historical imagery<\/strong>, is it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of using the current date (which is the default), you can step back in time by adjusting the time slider. Unlike the cloudless imagery we are accustomed to, this is the true view of our planet.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Planet Labs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"958\" height=\"476\" src=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Planet-Labs.jpg\" alt=\"Historical Imagery Planet Labs\" class=\"wp-image-97246\" style=\"width:700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Planet-Labs.jpg 958w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Planet-Labs-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Planet-Labs-678x337.jpg 678w, https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Historical-Imagery-Planet-Labs-768x382.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a couple of cool facts about Planet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They are a team of <strong>ex-NASA scientists<\/strong> who built their business embracing low-cost, lightweight, microsatellites in space.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They are the largest collector of Earth imagery with a constellation of <strong>450+ satellites<\/strong> in orbit at this time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Planet has a &#8220;freemium&#8221; service that dates back to 2009 giving you historical context on your areas of interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Planet\u2019s fleet of satellites is ideal for monitoring anything on Earth. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planet.com\/stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Planet Stories<\/a> allows users to use space imagery and tell their own stories anywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aerial Orthoimagery for Historical Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you want a historical context for an area of interest, there are several options to help you get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google Earth<\/strong> is a mobile and desktop application with an enormous collection of historical imagery for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Esri\u2019s Wayback Living Atlas<\/strong> provides an online platform. It&#8217;s free and it&#8217;s growing for historical images. Lastly, it&#8217;s becoming more ubiquitous to the average user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, <strong>USGS<\/strong>, <strong>NASA<\/strong>, and <strong>Planet&#8217;s constellation of satellites<\/strong> provide an alternative means to view the history of Earth. Also, you can try your luck with our list of <a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/free-uav-drone-imagery\/\">free drone imagery<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking for more satellite imagery?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Find more <strong>free satellite imagery<\/strong> with the resources below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/free-satellite-imagery-data-list\/\">15 Free Satellite Imagery Data Sources<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/satellite-maps\/\">Satellite Maps To See Earth in New Ways<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/live-satellite-map\/\">5 Live Satellite Maps to See Earth in Real-Time<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/satellite-image-of-earth-blue-marble\/\">Satellite Image of Earth \u2013 Blue Marble (NASA)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/aerial-imagery-sources\/\">Aerial Imagery and Photography Sources<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Got anything else? We&#8217;d love to hear from you in our comments section below.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you want historical imagery, the best web viewers are Google Earth, Esri\u2019s Wayback Living Atlas, USGS LandLook, NASA Worldview and Planet&#8217;s Stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[331],"class_list":["post-18587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-sources","tag-orthoimagery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Free Historical Imagery Viewers to 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