This dataset contains the spatial metadata of the collection of historical aerial photographs (1946–2007) of the National Geographic Institute (NGI). The aerial photographs themselves are not part of the dataset.

The collection comprises more than 72,000 aerial photographs. The images are predominantly panchromatic (black and white). From the late 1970s onwards, colour images were also acquired, and from late 2004 onwards all images were acquired in colour. The analogue aerial photographs in the collection were scanned at high resolution.

This specific dataset comprises three layers: the centre points (centroids) of the individual aerial photographs, the footprints (the outlines of the area on the ground covered by each photograph) and the flight paths of the aircraft used during image acquisition. For each aerial photograph, all known metadata are included in the attribute table, such as the acquisition date, the flight and the strip, the dimensions, the scale, the ground resolution, the radiometry (black and white or colour), the coordinates of the centre point and the camera, lens and film used. These data make it possible to look up which historical aerial photographs are available for a given location and period, and what the characteristics of each photograph are.

The data can be consulted via the corresponding web service (WFS). The aerial photographs can be ordered in high resolution via https://shop.ngi.be/nl/luchtfotos/.