Using Retrolens to explore historical aerial imagery in Aotearoa
· 4 min read
One of the most useful tools for understanding change in whenua over time is historical aerial photography. In Aotearoa, the easiest public way to explore this imagery is through the Retrolens website.
Retrolens provides access to scanned aerial photos dating from the mid 1930s through to the late 1980s. For Māori GIS work, this period covers major changes in land use, drainage, forestry, farming, road construction, river modification, and urban expansion. It is often the clearest visual record of what existed before modern planning and regulation.