Fayette agencies need new aerial photographs of the entire county if they are to do their jobs properly in today's technological climate, the County Commission was told last week.

Commissioners told staff to go ahead and solicit bids for the estimated $500,000 project after Kirk Houser, county engineer , told them that currently inaccurate maps based on outdated photographs affect everything from cable television to traffic signals.

The last time aerial photographs were taken to help the county prepare tax maps, utility inventories and other planning tools 1995 the photos were not digital, Houser said. "The most recent digital photography, 1993, was not very high resolution," he said.

None of the aerial photos used recent technology that would accurately measure not only the width and breadth of parcels of land, but also the valleys and hills that affect drainage projects, flood plain protection and other concerns, he added.

Once topographically accurate photos are digitized and entered into county computer programs, said Houser, "then we can make all the developers give us digital information in their site plans" so that changes in topography and new drainage features can be added to the data base without taking new aerial photos.

Virtually every department in the county government is affected by the currently inaccurate mapping data, Houser said, adding that developers and other business people, along with individuals, will buy copies of the new, more accurate maps, mitigating the costs.

Among 28 components that would be included in the data, Houser said, are parcel boundaries, county roads, water mains, soil type, fire zones, census tracts, school attendance zones, traffic signs and signals, electric distribution systems, cable television, phone lines and storm sewers.