Google Mars HiRISE base images for Opportunity Options

[elakdawalla]

Because it has become a forum FAQ, I've created this sticky thread containing information on where to obtain new base images for Opportunity's traverse for Google Mars, and for discussion on creating new ones. I will continue to add links to new base image layers to this first post as they become available.

New users: Download this 4-MB kml file and open it in Google Earth
Then go to the last post in the Opportunity Route Map thread for the latest traverse map
You need to download the new KML file each time in order to follow Opportunity's peregrinations.

Google Mars comes with a color base image mosaic created from HRSC imagery. In addition, there is an inset full-resolution HiRISE image covering the area from the landing site at Eagle crater, through Victoria, up to the point between sol 2040 and 2041 (just west of Mackinac) where Opportunity drove off the map.

Unfortunately, this Victoria crater HiRISE layer included within Google Mars is not perfectly registered to the HRSC base map. As far as is known, there is nothing to be done about that. Both John Cody's image layers and Eduardo Tesheiner's traverse maps are aligned with the inset HiRISE layer included with Google Mars, NOT to the HRSC base map.

In June 2009 SFJCody posted a reduced-resolution mosaic of HiRISE tiles that cover the entire future traverse area including Endeavour's rim. I have made some small modifications to that map and have hosted it in a single file here (17 MB). Download the file, run Google Earth, select the Mars view, and File>Open the KMZ to view it.

In September 2009 SFJCody posted another HiRISE base image, this one at full resolution, covering the Western Route and reaching not quite all the way to Santa Maria. Here is a link to the kml file (4 MB). Here is a link to a zipped version if you'd prefer to have it locally (256 MB) and I also wrote a blog entry about it.

During the discussion below, in late 2010, I created a small tile that covers just the immediate area around Santa Maria. Here is a link to the kml file covering that region.

In February 2011 Eduardo Tesheiner provided another set of base images covering the area from Santa Maria to Endeavour's rim. Here is a link to the kml file. If you would like to work from a local copy, you can download this 75 MB zip file and unzip it to a folder on your drive, then open the file PSP_010341_1775_RED.kml within it.

All three base images can be loaded at once using this kml file (the same one that is linked to at the very top of this post).

[elakdawalla]

Sorry for the long break -- DPS happened, then some necessary travel. In the meantime James got me the two tiles of PSP_005423_1780_RED that we've been working on that cover Santa Maria in PNG format. Unfortunately, MapTiler is not handling these correctly, but I have a suspicion that it's because my old computer is running out of memory. I should have a brand-new computer in two weeks with more than enough memory to handle this problem, and then I'll revisit it. I *think* Opportunity will not get to the edge of the current map in two weeks...it would be awesome if I were wrong about that, though!

[tim53]

Sorry for the long break -- DPS happened, then some necessary travel. In the meantime James got me the two tiles of PSP_005423_1780_RED that we've been working on that cover Santa Maria in PNG format. Unfortunately, MapTiler is not handling these correctly, but I have a suspicion that it's because my old computer is running out of memory. I should have a brand-new computer in two weeks with more than enough memory to handle this problem, and then I'll revisit it. I *think* Opportunity will not get to the edge of the current map in two weeks...it would be awesome if I were wrong about that, though!

Here's mine:

It's a mosaic of CTX and HiRISE that I put together in Photoshop for traverse planning. I used Photoshop so I could take care of shading differences between overlapping images. I also used the lowest emission angle images to minimize topographic distortions to the map projection (which only corrects for the MOLA long-wavelength topography). At this scale, you can't see the HiRISE at full resolution, of course...

I made the mosaic so we'd have continuous HiRISE coverage of our route all the way to Endeavour.

When we're "done" with Endeavour, I'll have to make another map, I suppose!

-Tim.

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