Minnesota Air Photos - FSA, USDA: 2002

Through the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP), the Farm Service Agency collects color imagery used to monitor U.S. Department of Agriculture farm programs.

Twenty-eight agricultural counties in southern Minnesota were flown in June-August 2002 and the 1-meter resolution imagery was orthorectified. The original files are in GeoTIFF format; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, created a county version in MrSID format.

NAIP 2002 Aerial Photography: MrSID County Files

From links in the table below, download county mosaics of NAIP 2002 (National Agricultural Imagery Program) aerial photography for 28 counties in southern Minnesota. These MrSID format mosaics were created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency.

Aerial photo of a winding river and farmland

Download county mosaics

Each link points to a self-extracting zip (.EXE) file. After downloading, double-click the .exe file from Windows Explorer or File Manager. The following files will automatically be extracted:

  • Data files: the image in MrSID format (.sid extension) and its accompanying header file (.sdw extension).
    Naming conventions:
    • Each file is named "fsa_countyname_mosaic_2002".
      For example, the image file covering Brown County is named "fsa_brown_mosaic_2002.sid" and its accompanying header file is named "fsa_brown_mosaic_2002.sdw".
    • When more than one file is needed to cover a county, the "countyname" part of the filename is followed by a letter (n = north, s = south, ne = northeast; nw = northwest).
      For example, the image file covering Blue Earth County is named "fsa_blue-earth_n_mosaic_2002.sid" and its accompanying header file is named "fsa_blue-earth_n_mosaic_2002.sdw".
  • Metadata: documentation for the data set. Two records are included:
    • naip02.html: This record applies to the entire NAIP 2002 data set.
    • fsa_countyname_mosaic_2002.sid.xml:  This record applies to a specific mosaic file.
      For example, the "fsa_cottonwood_s_mosaic_2002.sid.xml" file contains bounding box coordinates, UTM Zone and photo dates that apply to the Cottonwood County south file, rather than to the whole NAIP 2002 data set.

County Name

Download File Size
(in megabytes)

Photo Dates (2002)

 UTM Zone

Blue Earth (North)
Blue Earth (South)

 213
162		 6/29-7/29 15

Brown

 328 6/29-7/1 15

Cottonwood (North)
Cottonwood (South)

 190
176		 6/29-7/1 15

Dakota

 341 7/13-8/9 15

Dodge

 226 7/13-8/9 15

Faribault

 324 6/29-8/8 15

Fillmore

 384 7/30-8/11 15

Freeborn (North)
Freeborn (South)

 178
178		 7/13-8/8 15

Goodhue

 398 7/28-8/11 15

Houston

 277 7/30-8/9 15

Jackson (North)
Jackson (South)

 187
188		 6/9-7/1 15

Le Sueur

 244 7/13-7/28 15

Lyon (North)
Lyon (South)

 201
203		 6/28-6/29 15

Martin (North)
Martin (South)

 169
172		 6/29-7/1 15

Mower (North)
Mower (South)

  156
154		 7/30 15

Murray (North)
Murray (South)

 242
187		 6/28-7/1 15

Nicollet (North)
Nicollet (South)

 155
145		 6/29-7/28 15

Nobles (North)
Nobles (South)

 166
154		 6/28-7/1 15

Olmsted

 334 7/28-8/11 15

Pipestone (North)
Pipestone (South)

  109
157		 6/28 14

Redwood (Northeast)
Redwood (Northwest)
Redwood (South)

 141
137
195		 6/29-7/1 15

Rice

 249 7/13-8/9 15

Rock

 246 6/28 14

Steele

 248 7/13-8/9 15

Wabasha

 308 7/28-8/11 15

Waseca

 263 7/13-8/2 15

Watonwan

 249 6/29 15

Winona

 405 8/8-8/11 15