After browsing old threads recently, I got the idea of fixing all the broken links to terraserver. And today, with Guy's help, it's done! I wrote a translator that "ingests" the original link and opens a new link to the boydsmaps 1990's B/W aerials. These aerials are from the National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) which was the source of the USGS Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQ's) which terraserver used. After looking at our old links, I have high confidence that this is the same imagery discussed over 20 years ago at NJPB because things like artifacts and reflections are mentioned.
The other terraserver option was topo maps, and these linkswill display the boydsmaps USGS legacy 24k topo, which is a higher quality - and maybe slightly newer - version of the maps used by terraserver. They were using USGS Digital Raster Graphics (DRG) topo maps which are highly compressed, low quality versions of the 24k topos.
Update 5/26/25: the same USGS 24k DRG (Digital Raster Graphics) maps originally used by terraserver are now displayed for locations in the mid-Atlantic region.
Very interesting discussion of the original system in this vintage article from Microsoft. There's some terraserver history on wikipedia that says they began operation in 1997 but isn't very clear on when they went away, although the trademark passed between several entities, ending up with a drone photography company called PrecisionHawk in 2015 which subseqently declared bankruptcy and ceased operations in 2023. Here at NJPB, there are terraserver links going back to 2002 in ThePineBarrens.com Archives. The last terraserver link I could find at NJPB was in 2008 and there was a lot of complaining about problems before then.
It was a lot of fun reading though the old posts, converting the links. Everyone thought it was so cool to view aerial imagery online for free. I remember being very impressed myself. Of course, it was quite primitive by today's standards. This was the original user interface
You couldn't just drag the map around, like we're accustomed to today, you moved it by clicking those arrows in the blue frame. They used 200x200-pixel tiles and had three sizes: small (400x200), medium (600x400) and large (800x600), so it jumped by 200 pixels each time you clicked an arrow. The issue in translating is that these links don't actually reference the center of the image. The coordinates are the bottom left corner of a "tile of reference". I don't know all the details, but here's what a translated link to the image above looks like. The blue grid shows the original tiles and the magenta cross shows the original coordinates (which correspond to the boydsmaps crosshairs).
The takeaway from all of this is: don't pay much attention to the position of the crosshairs on these old terraserver links. It wasn't possible to position the map precisely with the original software, and this is further confused by reference coordinates in the corner of map tiles. In old threads, people tend to describe the object of interest, since there was no way to center it in the view.
If you read back though the forums, you'll find terraserver links. Doing a simple forum search for "terraserver" also turns up some very cool old threads. Great nostalgia for long-time members, but also might be fun for newer members.
If you have your own terraserver links, you can translate them individually here
https://boydsmaps.com/ts
And finally... Yes, we've also fixed all the old topozone links! The difference is that topozone is still operating although most of our old links won't open an actual map. I'm not offering a translator for topozone links, but we've fixed all the old linksso they will now open the legacy 24k map. There didn't seem to be any zoom setting in the old links, so it always opens a level 15 view. I believe the crosshairs are correctly positioned on the topozone links. There's some discussion of the "red x" in old posts which matches the crosshairs in the translated links.
Update 5/26/25: the USGS 24k DRG (Digital Raster Graphics) maps originally used by topozone are now displayed for locations in the mid-Atlantic region.
Enjoy, and if you find any old links we missed, let us know.
The other terraserver option was topo maps, and these links
Update 5/26/25: the same USGS 24k DRG (Digital Raster Graphics) maps originally used by terraserver are now displayed for locations in the mid-Atlantic region.
Very interesting discussion of the original system in this vintage article from Microsoft. There's some terraserver history on wikipedia that says they began operation in 1997 but isn't very clear on when they went away, although the trademark passed between several entities, ending up with a drone photography company called PrecisionHawk in 2015 which subseqently declared bankruptcy and ceased operations in 2023. Here at NJPB, there are terraserver links going back to 2002 in ThePineBarrens.com Archives. The last terraserver link I could find at NJPB was in 2008 and there was a lot of complaining about problems before then.
It was a lot of fun reading though the old posts, converting the links. Everyone thought it was so cool to view aerial imagery online for free. I remember being very impressed myself. Of course, it was quite primitive by today's standards. This was the original user interface
You couldn't just drag the map around, like we're accustomed to today, you moved it by clicking those arrows in the blue frame. They used 200x200-pixel tiles and had three sizes: small (400x200), medium (600x400) and large (800x600), so it jumped by 200 pixels each time you clicked an arrow. The issue in translating is that these links don't actually reference the center of the image. The coordinates are the bottom left corner of a "tile of reference". I don't know all the details, but here's what a translated link to the image above looks like. The blue grid shows the original tiles and the magenta cross shows the original coordinates (which correspond to the boydsmaps crosshairs).
The takeaway from all of this is: don't pay much attention to the position of the crosshairs on these old terraserver links. It wasn't possible to position the map precisely with the original software, and this is further confused by reference coordinates in the corner of map tiles. In old threads, people tend to describe the object of interest, since there was no way to center it in the view.
If you read back though the forums, you'll find terraserver links. Doing a simple forum search for "terraserver" also turns up some very cool old threads. Great nostalgia for long-time members, but also might be fun for newer members.
If you have your own terraserver links, you can translate them individually here
https://boydsmaps.com/ts
And finally... Yes, we've also fixed all the old topozone links! The difference is that topozone is still operating although most of our old links won't open an actual map. I'm not offering a translator for topozone links, but we've fixed all the old links
Update 5/26/25: the USGS 24k DRG (Digital Raster Graphics) maps originally used by topozone are now displayed for locations in the mid-Atlantic region.
Enjoy, and if you find any old links we missed, let us know.
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