Here're the latest maps updated to sol 1484.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Another update, now after the drive on sol 1486.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here's the latest route map, updated after the drive on sol 1489.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here's the latest route map, updated after the drive on sol 1491.
Click to view attachment

And a modified version of the map view from Cape Verde. Opportunity will soon get out of the field of view so this map will not last too long.
Click to view attachment

It looks like maybe the official mapmakers have borrowed the idea for a pancam imagery map from our own resident mapping experts! Check out the bottom of this page.

...and they aren't as updated as "HIM" !

How was that expression: "Any similarity is pure coincidence".

Wow! Almost two months since the last map update, but I think this time I'll have to do it more often. Fingers crossed...

Sol 1547.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Fredk, do you remember this?

Quack, quack, quack!!

Map update for sol 1550.
Click to view attachment

Map update for sol 1557. We are almost exactly at the same spot as during sol 1489.
Click to view attachment

Route maps for sol 1559.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Route maps for sol 1562.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Maps for sol 1564. Given that Opportunity will be out of the fov (below the cliff) on my "The Plunge" map, it's time to use another perspective. The third map is based on the "Lyell Panorama".
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Wow, nice 180! Definitely appreciate the new perspective.

Maps for sol 1565, and this is the last update to "The Plunge" ... before the return leg, obviously.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Quick update, now that we have fresh pictures from sol 1566.
Click to view attachment

Maps update for sol 1567.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Maps update for sol 1584.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Route map updated to 1621
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

updated to sol 1625
Click to view attachment

updated to sol 1630
Click to view attachment

They say one mark of getting old is that time seems to go by faster and faster. I was looking at the Sol numbers this afternoon and realized that we are only 2 weeks shy of Opportunity having spent an ENTIRE EARTH YEAR on the slopes inside Victoria Crater! Hard to believe it has been that long!

Indeed that Oppy has become a turtle mind and her timing of 1 day is equivalent to 1 week. However, she is not taking any hurry but is savoring the Mars' science. Keep going Turtle

to sol 1632
Click to view attachment

Alan, thanks for keeping the map updates during this last month!

I'm back from vacations and no longer in "lurking mode" so here's a map update covering the whole exit path. Given that the exit route overlaps with the entry one I did a similar approach as when Opportunity drove back from "Tierra del Fuego", making the entry route darker than the exit. But in this case I'm only updating the zoom window, because the main one is too cluttered in this area.
Click to view attachment

And for the journey ahead I think it's time to start with a clean map.

Updated route map, up to sol 1650.
Opportunity left the site at the exit point but is still in the vinicinty.
Click to view attachment

It's time to stretch the route map, don't you think so?
Click to view attachment (Sol 1659, 820KB)

This is the best map I've seen in over 2 years

Yes a great map makes me think we are really going to get to Endeavour.
It's good the way the main picture just reaches the first part of the main 'pavement' type bedrock.

Reckless

In addition to the detail box inside the neighbourhood rectangle, I would like to see that rectangle inside a low res map of the the big picture, if that wouldn't be too much bother.

I'll second that.

Dunno if I got you right, but if you mean "neighbourhood rectangle" by the main background map (the one covering Victoria and the area to the south), is this what you want?
Click to view attachment

It would make a nice map but I see some inconveniences. The first one is that to keep the main map at the current resolution of 50cm/pix the whole image is about 4000x4000 and the file size, with a JPEG setting of 80%, is almost 1.5MB; too big (IMO) to post it drive after drive and perhaps too big for the people that might still be using dialup (I've upgraded to ADSL just 2 months ago). The second one is that my computer can barely handle such a picture; actually, Photoplus crashed once while making this test.
I'm not against this map layout, actually I like it, but I'm afraid it's too big. Alternative solutions?

Perhaps Doug could host this larger map and you could just post the reduced version with drive updates.

You could just paste in a link to the larger version (or included thumbnail) with your post if you felt so inclined.
If people need to check it out they can quite easily.

Great map

One thing I would say - is that 500 days of driving, with 1 meg route maps every day - is half a gigabyte of forum attachments.

I really don't think that a new attachment ever single day is the best way to do this. I'm not turning up the maximum attachment size - sorry - I have to back this forum up - so every single attachment everyone has ever downloaded - I have to download it on a regular basis to ensure a full, re-installable backup of the forum.

FWIW - I really don't think we need a context map every time. It's superfluous. Maybe one every month or something, or one each time the background map moves?

I don't think we need the current map to be 2k x 4k. 2k x 2k would be fine - and significantly smaller on file size.

I reckon you could get away with that context map being 1/4 the size it currently is and added as an insert in the corner so as to not increase the image size.

If it's a problem I'm more than happy to host the maps.

My site has a file upload feature that I could give Tesheiner access to. Then he could just link to it here without taking up space.

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/media/users/james/...ol1659.new1.jpg

James

That was my initial intention; background map (50cm/pix) covering the whole area and a small context map (50m/pix) located at the corner. The context map doesn't need additional space so the file size in MB basically won't change and would be defined by the size of the background map.


Agree, when speaking of a context map located beside the main one into the same file. It's a waste of space because it doesn't change. I like your suggestion to post it as a separate attachment whenever the background on the main map changes, however I still think it's a good idea to have such context map at 5m/pix in some way together with the main map on the same post. I tried sometimes to use attachments from previous posts on a new one with no luck; a link to the previous post would serve as a workaround but the other way would be, imho, a better solution. Is it possible?


Yeah, I know. Actually the maps before reaching Victoria were even smaller then 2k x 2k.
Problem is that if they really want and succeed to drive 100m/sol, a 2k x 2k map would cover only 10 driving sols. Either the map should be bigger or its scale should be changed, say to 1m/pix.


Many thanks James, but I don't think it'll be needed. I personally think that it's a good policy to host both posts (text) and attachments on the same place.
Have a look to some old threads where you can read the people discussing about a topic but the images associated to the discussion have simply gone because they are hosted somewhere else and either the owner moved from one place to another or the host changed its name.

I love having these maps, but the bigger map is not necessary every time. I would suggest posting a small section covering the actual driving area after each driving sol, and the 2K by 2K map only occasionally.

Phil

Yep, once a month, during the traverse, like TPS updates...

And, we don't actually know that we're heading directly south from Vicky, so perhaps an intermediate step to reduce map size would be to just include Victoria (plus part of the anulus), if you weren't planning that already, Tesheiner...?

Besides, we must use an HiRsE images from MRO websites for a detailed map of the planned route. The posted map at this forum with 1m/pixel will be enough as an navigation guide. However it would not be enough for studying the best path to Endeavour route. For simplicity, it is ideal to have the link to that HiRsE image in this forum at every map posting of Opportunity travel.

That sounds like a workable suggestion to me. It should allow the frequently updated map to be significantly smaller than the current one, while providing a convenient link to a larger image hosted elsewhere. I think most of us following the mission progress will have little trouble relating the route map to the HiRise images, and it should be less work for Eduardo, too. ...but as the person committed to making these maps, only he knows the best way to do it.

Thanks for all suggestions! The outcome is that I decided to change the map scale to 1m/pix and start it covering an area of 1km x 2km which I think is a good balance between resolution and file size (and the capabilities of my computer too!). Besides, instead of switching the background from time to time I'll try to cover more and more ground as the rover adds kms to its odometer; due to that I'm planning to post the whole map only eventually and use smaller snapshots for the "daily business".

Currently I'm using TRA_000873_1780_RED as the background but it doesn't cover the ground 'till Mini-Endurance so it would be better to switch it by PSP_009141_1780_RED which is the one being used for terrain evaluation on the other thread. It's a pity that small data drop (?) near Mini-Endurance on the latter picture but I suppose we will have new HiRISE images from that area and further south in the near future.

I'll work on the above during the weekend.
Meanwhile and sticking to the current map, here's an update after driving on sol 1661. I have no visual clue because the images didn't hit the exploratorium yet, but based on the mobility data from the rover, here's the latest position past Sputnik.
Click to view attachment

Eduardo,

I was trying to find out where 153 m south will put Oppy and I realized that the actual scale is no longer easy in the horizontal position as well as, at 100 meters, it'll may be going to be a bit too short!
As usual, if you agree on this remark you'll may be consider it. BTW, I'm very excited thinking about the route maps to come.

Well, at the end I'm keeping the map scale at 0.5m/pix.
After making a new version at 1m/pix I realized that most of the small features (e.g. small ripples, tiny craters and rocky patches) in the image I used as reference to plot or double-check a position were gone so I''m sticking to the good-old resolution but covering 1km x 2km. The zoom window is hidden; there is no reason to keep it with these long drives.

Here's the map updated after the long drive during sol 1663. The position is preliminar (based only on the rover's mobility data) still to be double-checked once the navcam images hit the ground.
Click to view attachment

Very handy new grid Eduardo, thanks for this idea.

Oddly, the map calls 1663 1163.