Modified Mars

[Ramon Hoxha]

I created this map as a part of an ongoing project, which will hopefully one day also include a tourist guide and "postcards". The aim is to visualize the concept of terraforming Mars without getting too serious about it, which is why I chose a touristic viewpoint on the subject.

It's serious enough, though, too be as realistic as possibly can be expected from an early 21st century map of a mid 23rd century world. Coastline and relief, for example, are based on NASA's Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter maps. Many names on the map are based on existing nomenclature for craters and other features; other names are fictional. There's a future history connected with the map and I hope to publish that somewhere in the next few months.

It's possible to explore the map in two ways on www.modifiedmars.com: by zooming and panning in a browser window or by opening a kmz-file in Google Earth. In the latter case Earth transforms into Mars, which may take some time, but not too long.

Since this is a long term project and a 2.0 version is likely to be released at some point, comments and suggestions are welcome.

[ravells]

Hi Ramon. Interesting project! I love the feel of your map, it has an old 1950s SF look to it. Did you put in the colour scheme yourself? What do the colours indicate? Have some rep and welcome to the Gulid!

[Ramon Hoxha]

Hi Ravells,

That reminds me I should add an explanation of the colors somehow. They represent different types of vegetation and landscape. Dark green is pine forest, light green is broad leaf forest, the very bright green is mediterranean vegetation, yellow is steppe or prairie, brown is tundra or alpine, orange is desert, red is pre-human landscape, white is, of course, glaciers. These zones are not exactly determined in a scientific way but they are certainly related to realistic factors like altitude or proximity of large bodies of water.

Yes, I put in the colorscheme myself as an overlay of a relief map based on the MOLA data and I experimented just long enough till I was happy with it. I don't think I was so much influenced by fifties SF; I'd rather say I'm more inspired by maps like in the good old Bosatlas we used in highschool.

[Steel General]

Very interesting concept, looking forward to seeing more.

I shall bash thee with my Rod of Reputation *Bonk*

[jezelf]

Fantastic project! I love this! very exciting. I was loking at the google earth version and it's great.

as a suggestion, it'll be great to see more true representations of the areas flagged. Similar to the 3D renders found here

http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=...xpress&start=4

...rather than photos from earth - which is great for what you are doing - but looking more terriformed. You might have some of that of course, and it would be a load more work. Perhaps there are terrain makers out there who would like to help? Mojo, Bryce etc.

anyway just a thought. Thanks for puting it up - great work!

Cheers
jez

[Ramon Hoxha]

Thanks for the praise...

I do intend to add artist impressions of the main tourist attractions on Modified Mars at a later stage. I've been experimenting with a program called Terragen, which can read the MOLA-data and put the sea level at exactly the same height as on my map. The results were fascinating, even though the MOLA-data appear to be a bit too low res.

Unfortunately Terragen is rather limited when it comes to vegetation, buildings, roads, etc. I'm currently thinking about using the Terragen renderings as a base on which I'll shop those elements. But that's of course a lot of (pleasant) work and will take some time.

[joão paulo]

You have a version without being flat to the G E, in jpg , PNG or BMP format, if you have pole here for us.One more thing, you are Brazilian? your name appears Brazilian to me!

[Ramon Hoxha]

Bom dia Joao,

I don't know what you mean exactly, but as you may have seen I have the map in two versions, one in Google Earth and one as a flat map. But both are essentially the same map: a cylindrical projection of the Martian surface.

And no, I'm not Brazillian, but Dutch. Ramon Hoxha is actually the name of one of the characters on Modified Mars, of whom we'll probably learn more once my travel guide comes online. He's the star architect who designed the layout of Imagine, capital of the Martian Union.

But as a Brazilian, you may be interested in the area around 30 south and 320 west, where a lot of names go back to the time these were the Brazilian territories

[joão paulo]

Bom dia Joao,

I don't know what you mean exactly, but as you may have seen I have the map in two versions, one in Google Earth and one as a flat map. But both are essentially the same map: a cylindrical projection of the Martian surface.

And no, I'm not Brazillian, but Dutch. Ramon Hoxha is actually the name of one of the characters on Modified Mars, of whom we'll probably learn more once my travel guide comes online. He's the star architect who designed the layout of Imagine, capital of the Martian Union.

But as a Brazilian, you may be interested in the area around 30 south and 320 west, where a lot of names go back to the time these were the Brazilian territories

Thanks for explanation.Excuseer me per ongeluk en overwegingen.