The study of landscape gardening is another field for which the aerial photograph is peculiarly fitted. A collection of oblique pictures of the châteaux and palaces of Europe showing their approaches and grounds, or of the historic estates of our own South, (Fig. 194), will be worth more to the prospective designer of a country estate than maps and ground pictures can ever be. Closely allied to landscape gardening is city planning, for which the aerial map will be quite indispensable. The appearance of a city from the air may indeed become a matter of pride to its inhabitants, and not only the arrangement of streets and parks, but even the character of the roofs of the buildings, be the subject of study (Fig. 195). [Illustration: FIG. 196.—An aviation field under construction; early stage.] Engineers and constructors will depend more and more on preliminary photographic surveys as a basis for locating their operations. At the later stages of their work they will use aerial photographs for recording progress. Periodic photographs of buildings in process of construction, such as are now made from the ground, are much more illustrative when made from the air. Only from above is it possible to obtain in a single picture the progress of the complete project, such as the construction of an aviation field (Figs. 196 and 197) or of a shipyard. The building of large structures—bridges, hotels, ships on the stocks—particularly demands aerial views if the foreground is not to eclipse the center of real interest. [Illustration: FIG. 197.—An aviation field under construction; later stage.] News events will soon call for an aerial photographic service. Already we are seeing newspapers and magazines featuring aerial photographs of the entry into conquered cities and the parades of returning fleets. Accidents, fires, floods and wrecks, of either local or national interest, can best be represented by this newest form of photography. [Illustration: FIG. 198.—The crater of Vesuvius. Photograph by Royal Italian Air Service.] The photographing of wrecks, fires and floods suggests the importance of aerial views to insurance underwriters, who require the most minute information on the characteristics of buildings in every neighborhood, and on the extent and nature of damage done. Marine insurance companies might with profit use the airplane camera to help estimate the chances of salvage of a stranded ship or a vessel foundered in shallow waters (Fig. 181). [Illustration: FIG. 199.—Waves set up by a ship—of interest to the naval architect.]