The Pictometry Oblique Image Navigator
Oblique imagery is aerial photography that has been captured at a 45 degree angle to the ground to provide three-dimensional views of ground features.
To open the oblique viewer and its set of oblique image navigation tools, click on the
button (located at the bottom center of the main map window).
This will expand the oblique viewer to fill the lower half of the main map window; the oblique image corresponding to the location shown in the main map window will be displayed in the oblique viewer.
The oblique image viewer may be resized by clicking on and dragging the grey horizontal bar that separates the oblique image viewer from the main map window.
To expand the oblique viewer to fill the entire main map window, click on the button again.
To collapse or close the oblique viewer at any time, click on the 
button.
The following tools are available in the Pictometry Oblique Image Navigator toolbar (click on a tool icon in the toolbar below to learn about the tool):
The Pan tool lets you drag an oblique image to view different portions of the image. When you reach the edge of an image, your cursor will switch to a "walking man" icon
in the white space when an adjacent image is available.
Click in the white space to view the next adjacent image.
Use the Identify tool to select a point of interest from the oblique image and see a list of attributes associated with the parcel at the location. A Summary Report with attribute information, as well as additional display and selection options, will appear.
The Measure Coordinates tool returns the location of a point of interest. After clicking on a location, its coordinates (latitude-longitude in decimal degrees) will appear in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique viewer.
Measure Distance (Available to Secure Viewer users only)
The Measure Distance tool returns the straight-line distance between two points drawn on the ground or parrallel to the ground,
the length of a jagged or smooth (“free-form”) line drawn on the ground or parallel to the ground, or the total distance around an area of interest (perimeter).
The distance or length in feet is displayed in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique viewer.
Straight-line Length or Distance Measurement
Click on the first point, hold down your left mouse button, drag to the second and final point, and release your mouse button.
Smooth, Free Form Length or Distance Measurement
Click on the first point, hold down your Alt key, hold down your left mouse button and drag to the final point, and release your left mouse button.
Perimeter/Jagged Length or Distance Measurement
Click on the first point, hold down your left mouse button and drag while pressing your “v” key to add vertices where changes in direction are desired. Release your mouse button when finished.
Parallelogram Perimeter Measurement
Click on the first point to begin your perimeter, hold down your left mouse button and drag to your second point,
hold down your control key, and drag across the desired length of your perimeter. Release your mouse button when finished.
The Measure Height tool returns the vertical distance (perpendicular to the ground) along the height of any vertical object. Measuring the height of a telephone pole or a tree is a simple example of how this tool may be used.
Beginning at the base of a vertical object, or at any point along its height (measurements do not necessarily need to begin from the ground), click the first point, hold down your left mouse button, move to the second point along the height of the object, and release your mouse button. The vertical distance or height is displayed in feet in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique viewer.
The Measure Elevation tool returns the elevation above sea level of a ground point, as well as the change (or difference) in elevation between two ground points.
Measuring elevation at a single point: click on a point of interest at ground level. The results in feet are displayed in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique viewer.
Measuring the change in elevation between two points: click on the first point, hold down your control key while holding down your left mouse button, move to the second point, and release your mouse button.
The Measure Area tool returns the area within a polygon drawn at ground level or parallel to the ground. Polygons may be drawn using three techniques such as those covered in the distance measurement section: jagged, smooth (“free-form”), or parallelogram. The area in square feet is displayed in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique viewer.
Smooth, Free Form Area Measurement
Click on the first point, hold down your Alt key, hold down your left mouse button and drag to the final point.
Release your left mouse button when finished.
The final point will automatically snap to the first point, closing the polygon.
Jagged Area Measurement
Click on the first point, hold down your left mouse button and drag while pressing your “v” key to add vertices where changes in direction are desired.
Release your mouse button when finished.
The final point will automatically snap to the first point, closing the polygon.
Parallelogram Area Measurement
Click on the first point to begin your polygon, hold down your left mouse button and drag to your second point,
press and hold down your control key, and drag across the desired length of your polygon.
Release your mouse button when finished.
The Measure Bearing tool returns the angle (in degrees) between two lines: 1) one drawn by the user from an initial point (the vertex) toward a point of interest, and between 2) a theoretical line from the vertex that extends North. The bearing tool also measures the angle between two lines drawn by the user from a common point(the vertex) toward two different points of interest. Bearing (in degrees) is displayed in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique image viewer. The bearing tool is useful for measuring the orientation of line features, such as airport runways as shown in the examples below.
Measuring bearing from North: click at a location to establish a vertex, hold down your left mouse button, drag toward a point of interest, and release your mouse button.
Measuring the angle between two lines or points of interest: click at a location to establish a vertex, hold down your left mouse button and drag to the first point of interest, hold down your control key, drag to the second point of interest to form a triangle, and release your mouse button.
These tools allow the user to go back & forth between oblique images associated with the currently displayed location.
By default, oblique images are displayed with a view from the south looking north. The Rotate Clockwise tool allows the user to reorient their view, making it possible to view four sides of an object visible in an oblique image. Click the button on the toolbar once to view your location from the east looking west, twice to view from the north looking south, a third time to view from the west looking east, and a fourth and final time to return to the default south-looking-north view. The view’s orientation is displayed in the grey box in the lower right-hand corner of the oblique image viewer.
These tools allow the user to toggle between the oblique (“bird’s eye”) view and an orthogonal (straight down) view of a location inside the oblique image viewer. The orthogonal view will be similar to the view seen in the main map window when one of the aerial photo layers is visible.
The Zoom In & Zoom Out tools allow the user to toggle between two fixed viewing scales. Each scale displays a different image of the same location, captured at one of two levels of resolution and extent. “Neighborhood View” offers a higher resolution, more detailed image that is displayed over a smaller viewing extent. “Community View” does the opposite: a lower resolution, less detailed image is displayed over a larger viewing extent. As an alternative to switching between the fixed Neighborhood and Community scales, your mouse’s scroll wheel will change the scale of the image in the oblique viewing window.
This tool allows the user to export a portion of an oblique image by drawing a rectangle around an area of interest, and then choosing from among the options that are presented (below).
When attributes of a parcel are queried using the Identify Tool in either the main map window or in the oblique viewer, it is highlighted in yellow to make locating the parcel in the oblique image viewer easier. If parcel highlighting is undesired, use this tool to remove it.
By default, the center point of the area displayed in the main map window is shown in the oblique image viewer, and vice versa. If the crosshairs obscure the view in either display, use this tool to turn them off.
When Auto Sync is enabled, the image displayed in either viewer automatically changes to correspond to a change in location or extent in the other viewer, and the crosshairs will automatically move to the center of each display. When Auto Sync is disabled, and the display in either viewer changes, the crosshairs will no longer be centered in both viewers, but will move in one to represent the center of the extent that is displayed in the other viewer.
When a location of interest is displayed in the oblique viewer but does not appear in the main map window, this tool will adjust the view in the main map window to approximately match the extent that is shown in the oblique viewer.
When a location of interest is displayed in the main map window but does not appear in the oblique viewer, this tool will adjust the view in the oblique viewer to approximately match the extent that is shown in the main map window.