General Question Apollo landing site heightmaps

[george7378]

Does anyone know if there's a place where I can download heightmaps of the Apollo landing sites? I'd like to try and get some 3D models of them done, but I can't find this info!

Thanks!

 

[4throck]

http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lro_lola_gdr_dem&west=-180&south=-90&east=180&north=90&center_lat=0&center=0&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&projection=SIMP&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=2

PDS Map a planet :thumbup:
I has the entire Moon, Venus, Mars...

Here's the Apollo 15 landing site:
http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lro_lola_gdr_dem&west=265&south=260&east=452&north=111&center=3.075&center_lat=0&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&resamp_method=nearest_neighbor&projection=SIMP&r=1&g=1&b=1&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=56.6037735849057&lines=361&samples=721&scale=0.53571&imageTopX=-193124.3707239628&imageTopY=848300.8073270321&box=yes&x=451&y=259

And here some nice visual coverage with matching scale:
http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lo&west=0.41&south=23.38&east=5.67&north=26.01&center_lat=0&center=3.04&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&projection=SIMP&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=137.262357414449

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lro_lola_gdr_dem&west=-180&south=-90&east=180&north=90&center_lat=0&center=0&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&projection=SIMP&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=2

PDS Map a planet :thumbup:
I has the entire Moon, Venus, Mars...

Here's the Apollo 15 landing site:
http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lro_lola_gdr_dem&west=265&south=260&east=452&north=111&center=3.075&center_lat=0&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&resamp_method=nearest_neighbor&projection=SIMP&r=1&g=1&b=1&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=56.6037735849057&lines=361&samples=721&scale=0.53571&imageTopX=-193124.3707239628&imageTopY=848300.8073270321&box=yes&x=451&y=259

And here some nice visual coverage with matching scale:
http://www.mapaplanet.org/explorer-bin/explorer.cgi?map=Moon&layers=moon_lo&west=0.41&south=23.38&east=5.67&north=26.01&center_lat=0&center=3.04&defaultcenter=on&grid=none&stretch=none&projection=SIMP&advoption=NO&info=NO&resolution=137.262357414449

Can I tack on a request for a heightmap of Tsiolkovsky Crater that dips below the normal splanet sphere at its floor? None of the heightmaps I've seen are even close to getting it right in the area. The person who does this will be my hero :lol:

 

[4throck]

The data from the PDS is official. But you must define the conversion scale to grayscale values, or at least convert the values yourself, in order to get real altitute. Because what you see on screen is only 8bits.

 

[george7378]

I had a look at that site, and it seems to be very low-res for what I'm after - ideally I'd like something which shows the sites themselves in good detail - I can just about make out Hadley Rille when I use that picture to make terrain! Is that the highest resolution there is?

 

[4throck]

As far as I know, the LOLA dataset is the highest resolution global free dataset available.

There might be higher resolution DEM datasets for limited areas, but I don't know if you can redistribute the data. GoogleEarth has nice models of the landing sites, so the data comes from somewhere


An alternative route would be to draw the altimetry on a 3D program and produce a heightmap.
You can use this image for that, it has the spatial resolution you need:

I might do it someday when I have a lot of time to kill

 

[statickid]

I really like the description at the bottom about how the elevations were calculated

 

[jedimaster1214]

Hey guys,

If you download Eagle Lander 3D, the source files contain heightmapps for Apollos 11, 12, & 15 landing sites. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due! :thumbup:

 

[george7378]

Ah, that's more like it I can see that yes, it would take a while, and I couldn't do it right now either. As you might remember, I want them for my moon lander game, and since it's still got a lot of other areas which definitely need work, I will take care of those first! (Of course there's real life to think about too!).

jedimaster - I'm off to get the demo then! I assume they're in there aswell? I would have bought EL3D by now, but I'm always put off by how expensive it is (compared to Orbiter!) and I hear that people have trouble running it on Win7 aswell...

 

[Kendo]

A couple of years ago, I had a free terrain generator program. that I beleive did heightmaps etc etc, but I cant remember the name of the programm.
If I remember it I,ll let you know

 

[jedimaster1214]

jedimaster - I'm off to get the demo then! I assume they're in there aswell? I would have bought EL3D by now, but I'm always put off by how expensive it is (compared to Orbiter!) and I hear that people have trouble running it on Win7 aswell...

If you just get the demo, and just take a look at the source files, you're fine. It doesn't matter if you can run it or not, the source files will still be there.

 

[Kendo]

Here is that program I mentioned earlier. Teragen.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/

 

[4throck]

...As you might remember, I want them for my moon lander game, and since it's still got a lot of other areas which definitely need work, I will take care of those first! (Of course there's real life to think about too!)....

I remember but I don't think I posted the printed map at that time

---------- Post added at 20:10 ---------- Previous post was at 20:05 ----------

Hey guys,

If you download Eagle Lander 3D, the source files contain heightmapps for Apollos 11, 12, & 15 landing sites. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due! :thumbup:

I don't know about that. h:
Is it OK just to rip the files like that ? At least ask the author first....

 

[george7378]

Yes, I wouldn't just copy resources from another game without asking, but I also wonder - the data will also be from a public source in the first place? Just like textures of the lunar surface, unless originally created, are probably from a public source anyway. I guess it's possible they created them manually though...

 

[4throck]

My understanding is that most old NASA stuff is PD and free. So no problem there.

But recent missions have different image copyrights, mentioning universities, science teams, etc. And I'm under the impression that you must mention those every time you display the image....

An example regarding video:

Q: I want to use the footage in a YouTube video. Is it OK just to put the credit in the text description that appears next to the video?
A: No, as this is hidden inside a tab. Also it is not visible if the video is embedded in another website. Please include the full credit ‘burned in’ or overlaid on the video, or clearly visible as a credit at the end.

 

[NukeET]

Here is that program I mentioned earlier. Teragen.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/

With that link...Teragen doesn't look free.

 

[kamaz]

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=27743

The first post has my script for decoding LRO/LOLA data.

NASA datasets are not copyrighted.

 

[Kendo]

NukeET, Teragen is free. If you want to save larger files then you pay for it.

 

[NukeET]

NukeET, Teragen is free. If you want to save larger files then you pay for it.

Here's a better link then:

http://planetside.co.uk/terragen-2-free-download

Not to mention the following restrictions:

Render Size Maximum: 800x600
Render Detail Maximum: 1.0
Antialiasing Maximum: 3
Maximum Number of Rendered Populations: 3
Maximum Render Detail for Micropolygon Export: 0.1