Contractors need to get an aerial mapping project off the ground soon or they'll have to wait for next year, county commissioners were told last week.

So the group will have its regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow even though the only item for the agenda may be opening bids for the aerial photography.

Fayette agencies need new aerial photographs of the entire county if they are to do their jobs properly in today's technological climate, county engineer Kirk Houser told the commission recently.

Inaccurate maps based on outdated photographs affect everything from cable television to traffic signals, he said.

Time is short because trees are beginning to bud, and detailed photographs need to be taken while trees are bare, he told the group last week.

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.

Two companies, Keck & Wood and Pond & Company, have responded to the county's request for proposals, and prices are lower than expected, Houser said last week. The low bid was $323,000 and the high bid $496,000, he said.