Skåne from above - Aerial photographs from the 1940’s via Internet
Aerial photo service
The aerial photos from 1940 can now be downloaded direct from this homepage for free. This has been made possible by Lantmäteriet who has, from autumn 2014, droped all restrictions regarding use and distribution of these images.
Referencing to the images:
Production: Lantmäteriet
Scanning, rectifying and Internet distribution: GIS centre, Lund university.
The images are now defined in reference system SWEREF99 TM.
To download images, click one or more grids and then click the download icon in the lower right corner of the map. Note that if you have not selected a grid you will download all images which is 11.2 GB.
At the bottom of the map there is a slider. Use it to compare images from the 1940s to the current base map. The default base map is images from present time but you can change that to images from 1960 or 1975 (both from Lantmäteriet) or a regular topographic map. Use the icon in the upper right corner for this.
View the map in full size to explore.
Background
During the Second World War, a large number of aerial photographs were taken over the province of Skåne. The idea was to create a database which could be used to produce property maps. But because of the War, the project was never completed. Nevertheless, the authorities had a complete collection of aerial photograph, which was long after donated to Lund University. They were there well packed in a cellar, until a curious geographer noticed them many years later. The photographs provide a unique view in the past, and it became obvious that the public would greatly benefit from this amazing dataset if it was made available on the Internet.
About the pictures
The exact period when the photographs were taken varies somewhat. The coastal areas were all photographed between 1938-1940, while most inland regions date from 1947. Each original photograph, glued on a plywood sheet, is 50 x 50 cm, and represents a ground cover of 5 x 5 km. In 2002, all pictures were digitally photographed by UB Media with a resolution of 1 meter per pixel. This implies that objects only a few meters big can be noticed on the photographs. By studying this unique dataset, one can see how buildings, roads and vegetation have changed over time and space.
The photographs provide an historical dataset, where landscape changes can be compared with modern maps. They could also be compared with newer aerial photographs or maps from the National Land Survey of Sweden - Lantmäteriet.
About the project
The project is a collaboration between the GIS Centre and the Departments of Geography at Lund University. We thank foundation Färs & Frosta Sparbank, which financed the project.
For questions, please contact karin [dot] larsson [at] nateko [dot] lu [dot] se (Karin Larsson).