Residents who see a strange van with cameras in their neighborhood should not be concerned: A project to take aerial and street-level images countywide is about to get underway. Weather permitting, it will start this weekend in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and the Town of Rye. It is anticipated that all parcels will be photographed within the next six to 10 weeks.
Local police departments have been notified so they will know how to respond to any concerns from the public.
The project was first considered as a way to help local assessors update property records. However, it soon became apparent that there were other benefits, particularly in the areas of public safety. For example, this photography is useful in aiding police and fire departments better plan for and respond to emergencies.
Oblique aerial (angle) photography is taken from a plane and may not even be noticed by residents.
For the street level photography, a van goes down the street, public roads, with numerous cameras taking pictures in every direction. These vans will display the logo of the sub-contractor, FACET Technology.
The project contract was signed in June by the county; however, the startup has been timed to coincide with leaves off trees.
NOTE: If you see the van please take pictures and send them along.
The County has issued a memo…
MEMO FROM: Sam Wear, Assistant Chief Information Officer (GIS)
RE: STREET-LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY
______________________________________________________________________________Westchester County has contracted with Pictometry International Inc. (Pictometry) of Rochester, New York to collect street-level photography throughout the County. This work will improve efficiency and fairness of property assessment, and will also assist emergency response.
The bearer of this letter is a paid employee of Pictometry’s sub-contractor Facet Technology Corporation (Facet), performing services related to this contract.
Facet employees can be identified by “Facet Technology Corporation” signs on their vehicle and by possession of this letter which is to be presented upon request.
As part of this work, a Facet employee will be driving along all roadways in the County, photographing properties from the public right-of-way. Their sole purpose is to capture these photographs of structures (or undeveloped lots) for this project.
All work will be conducted in the public right-of-way and no entry onto private property is authorized or will be attempted.
Facet employees have been instructed to briefly answer any questions about their work and to provide interested parties with the contact information below.
For further information please contact:
Mr. David Jackson, Executive Director, Westchester County Tax Commission
(914) 995-4325
dbj1@westchestergov.com
Is it really needed?
Honestly, do we really need the county to spend money on photographing and mapping residents homes? isnt that why we have have local code enforcers? I am so sick of paying high taxes and this is absurd and a waste of taxpayers dollars!
Doesn’t “Google Maps” do this for free?
Doesn’t “Google Maps” do this for free?
Pictometry is Microsoft
Google does not use Pictometry images. They have their own imagery. The Pictometry images will eventually be available on bing maps.
Unfortunately on Bing maps the images will only be viewable on the screen. You can print the screen or do a screen capture, but they will be low resolution. To print high resolution aerials from Pictometry, you will need a subscription to pictometry.com, which can be expensive.
Similar oblique aerials were taken for the New Rochelle 10-10-10 project. Stay tuned for info later this fall on how to purchase a book, which will contain a number of the aerial photographs taken on 10-10-10.