NAIP

The NAIP program is administered by USDA FSA and has been established to support two main FSA strategic goals centered on agricultural production. These are, increase stewardship of America's natural resources while enhancing the environment, and to ensure commodities are procured and distributed effectively and efficiently to increase food security. The NAIP program supports these goals by acquiring and providing ortho imagery that has been collected during the agricultural growing season in the U.S. The NAIP ortho imagery is tailored to meet FSA requirements and is a fundamental tool used to support FSA farm and conservation programs. Ortho imagery provides an effective, intuitive means of communication about farm program administration between FSA and stakeholders. New technology and innovation is identified by fostering and maintaining a relationship with vendors and government partners, and by keeping pace with the broader geospatial community. As a result of these efforts the NAIP program provides three main products: DOQQ tiles, Compressed County Mosaics (CCM), and Seamline shape files. The Contract specifications for NAIP imagery have changed over time reflecting agency requirements and improving technologies. These changes include image resolution, horizontal accuracy, coverage area, and number of bands. In general, flying seasons are established by FSA and are targeted for peak crop growing conditions. The NAIP acquisition cycle is based on a minimum 3 year refresh of base ortho imagery. The tiling format of the NAIP imagery is based on a 3.75' x 3.75' quarter quadrangle with a 300 pixel buffer on all four sides. NAIP quarter quads are formatted to the UTM coordinate system using the North American Datum of 1983. NAIP imagery may contain as much as 10% cloud cover per tile.