The Tarrant County Commissioner's Court on Nov. 11 approved an amendment to the county's annual aerial imagery contract to obtain higher-resolution oblique and ortho photography used by the sheriff, the 9‑1‑1 district and the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD).

County GIS staff and a TAD representative told the court the imagery is used for mapping, 9‑1‑1 dispatch situational awareness, facility and transportation planning, subdivision and road design and appraisal verification. "911 would use this for situational awareness ahead of time," said Ramon Campos, GIS manager, explaining the images are a base map for pre-planning and are not live video.

The appraisal district said the photographs help verify structural components and changes to property that affect valuation, and help the public access imagery on the appraisal website.

During public comment, Joe Palmer warned of privacy and Fourth Amendment implications. "The prevailing concern here is privacy and Fourth Amendment protections," Palmer said, urging greater transparency about who will have access, whether cities would pay when they access the product and whether access logs would be created. He also noted the supporting documents allowed "an unlimited number of users" and questioned whether access would lead to warrantless viewing of yards, garages or windows.

Commissioners debated the operational benefits versus privacy concerns. Supporters said the county and partner agencies already rely on imagery for public-safety and appraisal functions and argued the amendment schedules a timely flyover when foliage is lowest to improve image quality. Opponents said the agenda lacked a clear comparison of current versus proposed image quality and called for more public disclosure and cost comparison.

The item carried on a 3–2 vote.

What happens next: staff will schedule a winter flyover to collect the higher-resolution images and make the updated imagery available to county users; commissioners and commenters asked staff to clarify access controls, user auditing and cost allocations for partner agencies before broader rollouts.