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Google Goes to Mars
Kynn writes "Google has launched Google Mars, based on the work done by Arizona State University's THEMIS researchers. With an AJAX-driven interface based on Google Maps (and Google Moon), you can search the Red Planet in false-color elevation, black-and-white visual, or infrared. Be sure to check out the so-called Face, the landing sites for Spirit and Opportunity, and the Polar Lander."
10.6N, 90W, apparently... try clicking "spacecraft" and find Beagle II in the list. +5 moderation on this post by the end of today, thankyou...
Another post on a comparison of how large Olympus Mons is.
World Wind has many Mars add-ons already... And I have heard that Venus may also show up in 3D with World Wind 1.3.4's release. You can install it as an add-on now sans 3D data.
From wikipedia:
Zero elevation: Since Mars has no oceans and hence no 'sea level', a zero-elevation surface or mean gravity surface must be selected. The datum for Mars is defined by the fourth-degree and fourth-order spherical harmonic gravity field, with the zero altitude defined by the 610.5 Pa (6.105 mbar) atmospheric pressure surface (approximately 0.6% of Earth's) at a temperature of 273.16 K. This pressure and temperature correspond to the triple point of water.
That's correct, the whole "northern" (There is no magnetic field to speak of, so "north" is a convention only) hemisphere is a basin, probably originally an ocean.
R. Francis Smith of Sturgeon's Law has a podcast interview with Noel Gorelick of Arizona State University -- the guy behind Google Mars -- who discusses the technical and scientific background behind the project. Listen to it here.
Kynn's page: http://kynn.com/