Mapping & Earth Observation · Recorded milestone

Aerial survey photomosaic

Recorded year1921

Sherman Fairchild's company stitches about 100 overlapping vertical photos into a single accurate map of Manhattan, launching commercial aerial survey.

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Built on

Trench maps from aerial photosRecorded · 1915enables

Led to

Spy satellite photographyRecorded · 1960enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.