Landgate celebrates WA Day with new and historical imagery

In celebration of WA Day 2014, Landgate has published new and historical aerial imagery of Perth and regional town sites on the State's open-sourced, online location information platform, 'Locate'.

The recently added historical aerial imagery includes the metropolitan area (1965), Albany (1954), Bunbury (1959), Busselton (1959), Denmark (1962), Kalgoorlie (1963), Mandurah (1960), Midland (1958) and Northam (1956).

The most up to date aerial imagery of 39 town sites is also now available on Locate, and includes Broome, Cue, Gracetown, Karridale, Prevelly, Rosabrook and Witchcliffe, as well as regional updates to Busselton, Donnybrook and Rottnest Island.

See a full list of all the historical maps and aerial imagery available on Locate by visting our 'Landgate celebrates WA Day' news alert page.

Landgate Chief Executive and Western Australia's current Surveyor-General, Mike Bradford, said the imagery was a reminder of the agency's important historical legacy and present-day role as the State's primary source of location information.

"In 1829, John Septimus Roe took the post as the State's first Surveyor-General and was instrumental in surveying and mapping the town sites of Perth and Fremantle, and he explored the south-west region of Western Australia," said Mr Bradford.

"These maps of Perth, Fremantle and towns across the State, some dating back to the 1830s, as well as historical aerial photography is now available on Locate which Landgate launched in October last year."

Using Google Earth technology, Locate provides the public with Government-sourced location information and data which includes property boundaries, public transport networks, the location of schools and health services, and the latest Commonwealth census data.

"By embracing this new technology, Landgate is recognised as a world leader in showcasing high quality imagery and making location information publicly available," said Mr Bradford.

"The work we are doing is ground-breaking and this was recognised by Google when they invited us to take part in the global launch of their new Google Maps Gallery platform earlier this year."

The Landgate imagery on Google Maps Gallery includes an aerial photograph covering the whole Perth metro area as it was in 1965, the Earth is Art series and the original survey map of the Canning Stock Route, explored by Alfred Canning, which compares features of the route with detailed aerial photography from the present day.

Locate (www.locate.wa.gov.au) is the first product from the redevelopment of the Shared Location Information Platform (new SLIP), an initiative under the Western Australian Government's Location Information Strategy. 

From Landgate's historical mapping, aerial photography and property information to data from other Government agencies such as public transport routes, train and bus stops; suburb, town sites and electoral boundaries; and the location of community services like hospitals, schools and Census information – Locate provides a single point of access to public information about WA, regardless of where you live.

To find out more about Locate, see the promotional video here.

Landgate is Western Australia's primary source of land information and geographic data, providing the accuracy Government, business and individuals rely on.