ArcGIS and GRASS GIS for Planetary Data

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are powerful tools for integrating information from different planetary datasets e.g. images, spectral data and digital terrain models in different formats like vector and raster. Before analyzing these datasets within GIS it is necessary to relate them to a common reference system. However, while the regular standard GIS Systems are developed for terrestrial reference systems, additional efforts are required for the integration of planetary datasets into a GIS. In this talk we describe the import of different datasets into ESRI`s commercial ArcGIS 9 and the open source project GRASS 5.3 (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System). We introduced several Mars datasets like MOLA (Mars Obiter Laser Altimeter), MDIM2.1 (Mars Digital Image Mosaic), MOC (Mars Orbiter Camera), TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer), the Geologic Map of Mars and images of High Resolution Stereo Camera of ESA`s Mars Express mission. Before importing these datasets, we referenced all these data within the VICAR (Video Image Communication And Retrieval) software package to the MOLA reference sphere using our mapping tools. We developed scripts to automate these steps and to create the correct image formats for GRASS and ArcGIS, respectively. Some results will be presented at this conference.