Imagery for the Nation

Overview
The Imagery for the Nation (IFTN) initiative aims to provide a sustainable and flexible nation-wide imagery program to meet the needs of government at all levels. IFTN will take advantage of existing programs that acquire imagery for Federal purposes. These programs include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and a joint effort between the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct the Urban Area Imagery Partnership (UAIP).

This initiative will integrate these efforts with state, tribal, regional and local government imagery programs to supply a complete, standard, and comprehensive national coverage. Federal guidelines, established in OMB Circular No. A-16, identify orthoimagery as a data theme of national significance and include it in a list of core sets of digital spatial information that require development, maintenance, and dissemination.