NAIP Imagery: metadata year / imagery year - mismatch?

[AnitaB]

All layers mentioned were added to ArcGIS Pro 3.3 project via Add Data > Portal > Living Atlas.  

I set up a definition query on "USA NAIP Imagery: Natural Color" for 2021, and also for 2018. (I also added separate queries for 2016, 2014, 2012).  To my map I added  "NAIP Imagery" and "NAIP Imagery Metadata".  These layers are owned by esri or esri imagery.

Clicking through the images to track a location's change, it appears to me that:

"USA NAIP Imagery: Natural Color " ( query=2021)  image is the same as  "NAIP Imagery"

HOWEVER, the "NAIP Imagery Metadata" returns 2018 as the date.   Attached are screen shots comparing "USA NAIP Imagery: Natural Color"-2021, "USA NAIP Imagery: Natural Color"-2018, and "NAIP Imagery".

This leads me to guess the metadata was NOT updated along with the image. Have I missed something?   The attached example is of a location in Massachusetts.  thank you!

[RWaterman · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We have two distinct NAIP offerings in Living Atlas. 

The USA NAIP Imagery: Natural Color layer is driven by a dynamic image service which is time enabled and includes all years/version of NAIP imagery since 2010. This dynamic imagery layer (service) also has embedded metadata and a popup so there no need to include another layer to get the metadata (e.g. year, quad name, etc.).

The NAIP Imagery layer is a tile layer/service which is essentially serves as basemap. It is a single composite which only provides the latest available NAIP imagery for each state (it does not provide the temporal stack of imagery that you get with the dynamic imagery layer). This service does not have metadata embedded within it so we also offer the NAIP Imagery Metadata layer to be used in conjunction. We also have the two of them paired together in a ready-to-use web map. 

Each of the offerings has their advantages, which you can read more about in the linked item descriptions. However, I think there are two primary points to take away here:

1. The NAIP Imagery Metadata layer is to be used in conjunction with NAIP Imagery tile layer and not the USA NAIP Imagery dynamic imagery layer.
2. For your use case of looking for changes over time, you will want to use the time enabled dynamic imagery layer to access all versions of NAIP for your location(s) of interest, and this includes metadata.

Please let me know if this does not address your concerns and/or if you have additional questions.

Best, Rob

[AnitaB]

Thank you.

I am grateful for the complete summary provided by you, assuring my understanding of the two different NAIP products.  I believe my example followed your guidelines about  "NAIP vs USA NAIP" and related metadata.   I was very conscious to not cross lines between NAIP and USA NAIP in my testing.

Happily, there was a bit of seasonal magic in the air, as the example in my attachment is resolved. 

Now the NAIP Imagery layer with its 2021 image has the NAIP Imagery Metadata properly showing 2021 metadata as the year.  Last I had looked (and illustrated in my original attachment), the NAIP Imagery Metadata popup displayed 2018 for that 2021 NAIP Imagery.  Case closed!!