Opportunity Route Map Options

[CosmicRocker]

Let's not overlook the great work of Pando and Dilo and Tesheiner on mapping Mars!  And all our panorama-makers, without whom maps are much harder to make....
Phil

No one here will ever be overlooked. It's just your turn to be glorified.

I just wish I better understood more details of how you and others are creating these lovely maps. I can do the transformation of panoramas to other projections, but nicely tying the resultant pieces together seems to be the tricky part. I have no desire to compete with you guys. But I would like to understand, as I suspect others would.

Can someone toss us a bone? A rubber one will do.

[Phil Stooke]

Take my recent maps as examples - Dilo might be doing it differently.

First, I create a base map, a greatly blown up MOC image, to get the geometry right.

Then if it's practical, I will paste onto it the JPL vertical projections, if there are any. But this is often not practical because they rarely fit together properly. Each one looks good alone, but if you overlay them the distortions in each one become very apparent. That's because they are based on oversimplified topographic models (usually just a plane). But if I can I'll use one or more of those as a starting point.

Then I'll make polar projections of each available pan. These can then be distorted - rubber-sheeted if necessary using multiple tie points, or just stretched and skewed a bit in simple cases - to fit the MOC and any vertical projections. The trick is to get a good match of position to as many features in the MOC as possible. The hole in the centre of each pan can usually be filled with another image, front hazcam during approach or whatever.

Finally, the seams are suppressed by carefully matching tones across boundaries between the various fragments of the photomosaic.

What I'm describing works much better in very flat areas like Anatolia than it does in the areas of high dunes such as Opportunity's current location. If there's a lot of local relief the joins between different reprojected pans are much more difficult.

I do all the graphic work in Photoshop, and rubbersheet using the GCPWorks module in PCI v6.2, a remote sensing/GIS program. PCI has a much more modern version called Geomatica, but it's much more complex and tedious to use. They could make money selling their old GCPWorks as a stand-alone, but the ^$#$ won't do it. I've tried to tell them they are passing up on a good opportunity. That's why I really want a better rubber-sheet program.

Phil

[Bill Harris]

I'm looking forward to your polar projections of the bedrock areas at Olympia/Mogollon. There is an interesting fabric to the pattern of fractures, etc, that would be easier to interpret as a polar.

--Bill

[Phil Stooke]

Like this one?

Sol 649. I think the original pan was by jvandriel. I did a bit of cosmetic work on the horizon, not very carefully. I left it south-up.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Or this?

Sol 651. By the way, does the rocky mound by the wheels have a name?

North up on this one.

Phil

[dilo]

CosmicRocker, you asked about my technique for route map construcion/integration.
When a good panorama isn't yet available, I start to construct the mosaic using a very artigianal anti-vignetting tool (based on PSP illumination effect). Then I match images, normally using AutoStitch; lot of work is often needed to have a flat horizon; moreover, sometime, AS program introduce also a vertical distorsion (the image height is varing with azimut) so I need to correct with PSP again. Possibly, some rotation and local luminosity/contrast adjustment are needed too.
When obtained a good panorama, with a flat horizon and good overall uniformity, I englarge it's canvas in order to have a cylindrical map (horizon must lie close to the center height).
The panorama is then used as a texture in PovRay. For vertical projection, it is projected on a flat terrain 1.5m below the point of view. If rover is tilted, further adjustments are needed (pitch and roll angles). Usually, I make a 2000x2000 map with a scale of 10cm/pixel. Some fine luminosity/contrast adjustments are often needed, locally and globally.
Finally, the most difficult part is identify the location and merge with previous projections. Following suggestion from Forum members, I use as background a rescaled MOC image (like Phil strategy) and try to orient/translate the center portion of vertical projection on common features. Sometime, I use also some heading referring points for orientation (like far craters) because in the past I was accumulating orientation errors... (another suggestion from members!)

As you can see, is not an easy task; I have to dedicate lot of time on each step and sometimes results weren't fully satisfyng. For this reason, ironically, I enjoied recent Opportunity stall because gived me possibility to work on other tasks...

[Phil Stooke]

This is a different version of the Sol 649 polar pan. The middle distance is emphasized. North is at the top.

Phil

[CosmicRocker]

OMG!! I begged for a bone and you guys served me up a feast.

...so much to digest, though. You guys are good, and I bow to your expertise. Your explanations help me better understand the work you do to create these beautiful maps. But it is now apparent that I have much work to do if I would hope to be an apprentice. I am overwhelmed.

Thanks for the details. I think I will enjoy your maps while I hone my basic skills in the image processing software that I have.

[Bill Harris]

Yes, Phil, thanks for the feast! Those polars are exactly what I was thinking about.

I've lost track of place names. I'm not sure what the outcrop in Sol 651 is named; it fascinates me because it may be related to the "dark bluff" at the Mogollon Rim/Payson outcrop.

--Bill

[Phil Stooke]

This is the second of the Sol 649 pans, originally by jvandriel, in polar form.

Phil

[mars loon]

New JPL Oppy Route Map to Sol 659

[ToSeek]

How close is Opportunity to leaving the landing target oval? It can't be very far now.

[Pando]

Here is an older route map (out of date now), but it shows the landing ellipse line just south of the Erebus crater.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[ustrax]

Here is an older route map (out of date now), but it shows the landing ellipse line just south of the Erebus crater.

Here's the whole context:

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/0...llipsefinal.jpg

[odave]

Here be Dragons!