It's June - Better LOLA? Options

[Rick Sternbach]

Okay, It's June 15. Where's the updated LOLA data? I keep finding the stuff from March in all the usual places. Okay, I'm sure it may take a few days, but does anyone have a clue if the LDEMs are going to get cleaner and crisper this time around?

I've already seen a resin casting of a moon globe made from the LDEM_64 data, but I wanted to wait a bit until more blanks were filled in.

Rick

[Phil Stooke]

In the old days this was straightforward. Resolution was always given as so many meters (or kilometers, or your unit of choice) per pixel (or line pair... OK, maybe it wasn't so straightforward)... anyway, resolution = m/pixel or some equivalent. And map scale was given as 1:500,000, or 1:1 million, or "1 cm represents 10 km" or words to that effect.

Digital maps messed this up a bit because a digital file could be printed at any physical size. So the idea developed that digital map scales should be defined as the number of pixels across a standard distance unit - pixels per degree of latitude for instance. These things are not really universal and strictly speaking they are ambiguous, but that is common usage. So I have to say, actually, there is no mistake.

Phil