In case you haven't seen, the state has put up some new digital orthophotography. I downloaded some of the area around my house and it looks very nice - higher resolution than the old photos. You access them via the NJGIN website. Definitely a lot better from what I've seen on Google Earth recently. Interface is a little confusing, but it actually works very well. Start at this link:
https://njgin.state.nj.us/NJ_NJGINExplorer/DataDownloads.jsp
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select "New Jersey 2007 - 2008 High Resolution Orthophotography - Download via Information Warehouse". If you prefer, you can also download older photos here. Clicking that link will put you into a map browser. Zoom in until you see the individual map tiles. You can then select the ones you want using a point (for an individual tile) or a polygon (for multiple tiles). The ones you select appear in a list on the right. Check the box next to them and click "add items to cart". Click the shopping cart icon to display the contents of the "carto-cart" (cute...). Don't worry - it's free
In the cart screen you will see an icon for two types of files - MrSID and JPEG2000 - click the one you want to begin the download. You will need software capable of opening these kinds of files. If you have a "real" mapping program, they can be imported and will be correctly geo-referenced. Photoshop should be able to open the JPEG2000 files. I'm sure there are some freeware/shareware programs for this as well.
If you just want to look at these files and play around, you could download the free trial version of Global Mapper here: http://www.globalmapper.com/. That should let you open the files and do a lot of other things, but not export any data.
With all the negativity about the state, I think it's refreshing to find something cool and useful like this... for free!
https://njgin.state.nj.us/NJ_NJGINExplorer/DataDownloads.jsp
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select "New Jersey 2007 - 2008 High Resolution Orthophotography - Download via Information Warehouse". If you prefer, you can also download older photos here. Clicking that link will put you into a map browser. Zoom in until you see the individual map tiles. You can then select the ones you want using a point (for an individual tile) or a polygon (for multiple tiles). The ones you select appear in a list on the right. Check the box next to them and click "add items to cart". Click the shopping cart icon to display the contents of the "carto-cart" (cute...). Don't worry - it's free
In the cart screen you will see an icon for two types of files - MrSID and JPEG2000 - click the one you want to begin the download. You will need software capable of opening these kinds of files. If you have a "real" mapping program, they can be imported and will be correctly geo-referenced. Photoshop should be able to open the JPEG2000 files. I'm sure there are some freeware/shareware programs for this as well.
If you just want to look at these files and play around, you could download the free trial version of Global Mapper here: http://www.globalmapper.com/. That should let you open the files and do a lot of other things, but not export any data.
With all the negativity about the state, I think it's refreshing to find something cool and useful like this... for free!