Pacific Western Aerial Surveys (PWAS or PW for short) was a locally owned and operated company in Santa Barbara that captured aerial photography of the tri-county area (Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo) from 1971 to 2010.
Coverage of the PW photography is primarily of Santa Barbara/Goleta and surrounding areas, and the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria river valleys (particularly the photography associated with the SBFLOOD collection). There is a smaller collection of PW photography covering areas in Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. The image scales range from as large as 1:2,000 to 1:36,000, with the majority of photographs at scales of 1:24,000 or larger. The PW photography held at the UCSB Library consists primarily of color prints and/or cut frame positive transparencies. Some of the photographs from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s are black and white.
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