The series consists of black and white prints of aerial photographic survey film negatives. The majority of photographs in the series were taken by the Division of National Mapping (and predecessor agencies) or by private contractors employed by the agency. In cases where an area had already been photographed by another authority (e.g. a State Survey Office) the prints produced by that authority were given National Mapping control points and included into the series. The series also contains prints originally controlled by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Central Photographic Establishment. These RAAF prints were brought under control of the series in circa 1954.

The Division of National Mapping was created by an Executive Council Minute on 2 August 1956 (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No. 47, 16 August 1956). Amongst other functions, the Division was responsible for geodesy; and, the medium and small scale topographical mapping of Australia for Commonwealth purposes. Geodesy is the branch of applied mathematics that determines the shape and area of large tracts of country, the exact position of geographical points, and the curvature, shape, and dimensions of the earth.

Aerial photographic surveys were taken using a K17 aerial camera. The K17 is an aerial reconnaissance camera with a nine inch by nine inch format (negative size), capable of taking vertical mapping photography (vertical to within 2 degrees of the ground), using a six inch (15.24cm) focal length lens. Most of the photographs were taken systematically with the aircraft flying across a block corresponding to the map areas at a scale of 1:50,000. Occasionally images at other scales (e.g. 1:31,680) were taken. The scale is listed on an image and/or the consignment lists for the series.

Each item bears some or all of the following data: location, run number, film number, photo number, scale, date, flight time, altitude, frame number. Some films numbers have the letter prefix SVY. Items were controlled by an alphabetical prefix (imposed by the agency for a designated area), then numerically by division and sub-division, run number, and photo number e.g. F 52/15/1/5032 stands for area F, division 52, sub-division 15, run 1, photo 5032.

The usual practice of the agency was to create three sets of prints from aerial surveys: a field set, an office set and a library set. One of the sets (usually, but not always, the office set) had control points marked on it for plotting purposes. The photography was taken in parallel strips. In general, adjacent strips were overlapped by 20% and consecutive photographs within a strip overlapped by 60% or 80%. Control points show the amount of overlap with neighbouring prints and control points plotted from associated ground surveys.

A1579 contains photographs taken throughout Australia at a predominantly at a scale of 1:50,000 where 1cm on the image is equivalent to 50,000cm on the ground. The ‘international sheet numbering system’, mentioned in the title of the series, refers to the international standard of map numbering first developed at the International Map of the World conference in Paris in 1913. In mapping, ratios or representative fractions (RFs) are used to indicate how many units on the earth's surface are equal to one unit on the image. From 1956 Australia began to switch over to the decimal scales of 1:50 000 and 1:250 000 in lieu of the previously used British Scale series of 1 mile or 4 miles to 1 inch.

Additional information: the International Map of the World

In 1913 an international conference was held in Paris to establish world standards for mapping. Each country would be responsible for creating its own maps to the agreed upon standards. The conference also became known as the Millionth Map of the World, due to the scale of 1:1 million established as a standard for world maps where 1 cm = 10 km or 1 inch = 15.8 miles. Map colors were also standardised: towns, railroads, and political boundaries represented in black, roads in red, topographic features in brown. After the Paris conference the Central Bureau of the Map of the World was established in Great Britain but the project suffered severe setbacks due to the bombing of the Bureau’s offices during World War II. The Map of the World project was taken over by the United Nations in 1953 but international interest gradually declined and by the 1980s the United Nations had ceased to issue regular progress reports for the project.

Sources

Series documentation

Geoscience Australia, ‘Our History’, downloaded 5 May 2009 from http://www.ga.gov.au/about-us/history.jsp

Geoscience Australia, ‘Topographical Map Numbering’, downloaded 24 June 2009 from http://www.ga.gov.au/nmd/mapping/number.htm

Australian Army Museum of Military Engineering, ‘History of the Royal Australian Survey Corps’, downloaded 24 june 2009 from http://www.aamme.com.au/histSVY.htm

20th Combat Mapping Squadron, ‘AERIAL CAMERA TYPES K-17, K-18, K-19B, AND K-22’, downloaded 23 June 2009 from http://mysite.verizon.net/yenrav/20cms/cameras.htm

About.com. Geography, ‘The International Map of the World: The Millionth Map of the World Project’, downloaded 24 June 2009 from http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/millionthmap.htm

About.com. Geography, ‘Map scale – measuring distance on a map’, downloaded 24 June 2009 from http://geography.about.com/cs/maps/a/mapscale.htm

Subsequent series unregistered

Aerial Survey Photographic Prints, International Sheet Numbering System, RC 9 (1: 84000 scale), 1960-1974