The origins of aerial photography can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century, and periods of World Wars contributed to the development of techniques for developing and disseminating aerial photographs for military purposes. In the literature, we find descriptions of the Polish Military Geographical Institute’s (WIG) use of aerial photography to update topographic maps of nearly 40% of the country’s area at the time. Unfortunately, the fate of the pre-war collection of photographs is difficult to establish. Given this, the aerial photographs from the period of the Second World War (German and Allied) constitute the oldest possible complete and consistent photographic documentation of Poland. The series of German prints
In 2020–2021, the Department of Geomatics and Cartography of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University implemented the project
The process of developing a historical orthophotomap, as presented in the article, is universal and can be repeated on any set of aerial photographs. At the same time, development work is needed to automate the operations as fully as possible. In conclusion, current challenges and prospects for the development of historical orthophotomaps of national coverage are indicated.