Status of orthophoto production and applications in Serbia

Paper reviews achieved level of orthophoto production in Serbia, with estimates on further developments in the next few years. Users, sources of financing, application areas, state and private sector partnership, etc. are particularly analyzed. Role of orthophoto in a situation characterized by outdated official maps, especially for urban areas with a large number of new objects, and even whole new settlements which are not surveyed and mapped is evaluated. Digital orthophoto also plays key role in Serbia in all cases where large scaled GIS establishment is concerned. Paper also reviews gained experiences related to this matter. Although there is a generally unquestionable support to orthophoto in Serbia, there are still some issues that have to be dealt with. For example, when orthophoto utilization for cadastral purposes is considered, there is no answer to the question whether or not, and under which conditions, digital orthophoto could be used for the update of official cadastral maps at 1:1000 and 1:2500 scale. Some solutions to this dilemma are presented in paper. Some other related issues such as technical regulations for digital orthophoto production, copyright, establishment of the national orthophoto program, etc. are also reviewed in the paper