NAIP
60 cm aerial multispectral, US-only, biennial archive since 2003
When to use
- Free, sub-meter US imagery for agriculture, vegetation, infrastructure
- Multi-decade time-series of US land use change
- Validation dataset for satellite work over the US
When it's the wrong fit
- Anything outside the United States
- Time-sensitive work — biennial cadence only
Processing levels
Five processing levels. Levels 1–3 are applied by default on every order; pansharpening (4) runs automatically when the sensor has a panchromatic band; mosaicking (5) runs automatically when the AOI spans multiple scenes. Specify any level explicitly if you need to override the default.
| L | Output | What's applied | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Raw | Digital numbers (sensor counts) with no calibration or geometric correction. Delivered as unprojected GeoTIFF with sensor metadata. | On request |
| 1 | Orthorectified | Geometric correction onto a DEM. Every pixel sits at its true ground position. Customer-supplied GCPs accepted at no extra cost. | Default |
| 2 | Surface reflectance | TOA radiometric correction plus atmospheric correction. Output is the actual fraction of light reflected by the ground, comparable across dates, sensors, and sun angles. | Default |
| 3 | Pansharpened | Not applicable — this sensor has no panchromatic band. | N/A |
| 4 | Mosaicked | Seamless multi-scene composite over the AOI with ML cloud/cirrus masking and custom seam-line path-finding. Applied automatically when the AOI spans more than one scene. | Default* |
*Mosaicking applies when the AOI spans more than one scene. Single-scene orders skip it.
Water masks, tree masks, glint handling, lidar-aligned reflectance, aquatic atmospheric correction, region-tuned models — anything your downstream pipeline requires. Quoted with the order.
Specifications
| General | |
| Provider | USDA (National Agriculture Imagery Program) |
| Country | United States |
| System type | Aerial |
| Product type | Multispectral (aerial) |
| Availability | Archive only |
| Available since | 2003 |
| Sensor | |
| Resolution | All bands: 60 cm (varies by year — 30 cm to 1 m) |
| Bit depth | 8-bit |
| Swath width | Aerial flight lines |
| Off-nadir range | N/A (aerial) |
| Constellation | 0 satellites (Aircraft-mounted sensors (multiple operators)) |
| Orbit | Aerial, Variable |
| Revisit | Biennial (every 2 years) — in practice Biennial |
| Acquisition modes | Mono |
| Reference | |
| CRS | NAD83 / state plane |
| Positional accuracy | < 6 m CE90 |
| Processing levels | Orthorectified, NAIP-standard |
| Tasking and catalog conditions | |
| Minimum AOI width | catalog Aerial flight lines |
| Minimum charge area | archive 25 km² |
| Geographic restrictions | United States only (CONUS, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico) |
Spectral bands
| Band | Designation and wavelength |
|---|---|
| Red | 604-664 nm |
| Green | 533-587 nm |
| Blue | 420-492 nm |
| NIR | 833-920 nm |
Delivery manifest
Each order delivers as a single archive containing the following files.
naip_[order_id].zip
├── data/ 4 band files, GeoTIFF, 8-bit
├── metadata.xml acquisition parameters, calibration coefficients
├── metadata.txt human-readable summary
└── overviews/ JPEG quicklook
Compare with
Closest alternatives by resolution and product type.
| Spec | NAIP | BJ3A | Göktürk-1 | Jilin-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 60 cm (varies by year — 30 cm to 1 m) | 50 cm | 50 cm | 50 cm |
| Provider | USDA (National Agriculture Imagery Program) | 21AT (Twenty-First Century Aerospace Technology) | IMPROSAT (Turkish Air Force) | Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST) |
| Country | United States | China | Türkiye | China |
| Type | Multispectral (aerial) | Multispectral | Multispectral | Multispectral |
| Availability | Archive only | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog | Tasking + catalog |
Spectral indices
74 spectral indices are compatible with NAIP. The most-used: NDVI,EVI,NDWI,SAVI,GNDVI,MSAVI. See the full spectral profile for the complete list and band mappings.
Ready to order NAIP?
Browse the catalog, place a tasking order, or request a custom processing pipeline through the Geopera portal. We respond to quote requests within one business day.