-------- Original Message --------
Subject: solar system vs. seafloor mapping
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:03:29 -0400
From: Fry, Michael <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>
I was just asked to comment on this statement: "We have more detailed
maps of the surfaces of Mars and Venus than we do of parts of our own
ocean floors." I gave it some thought and replied (see below), but I'm
wondering what you all think.
Here's what I said:
===================
[This statement] may be hard to confirm/debunk because the terminology
is squishy. I have certainly heard/read that there are parts of our
oceans that remain "unmapped," but since we have maps and atlases of our
ocean floors, I'm never sure what those statements are supposed to mean.
My hunch is that they're meant figuratively, as in "it's cold and dark
down there, and we're not really sure what's there." Either that, or
they're simply erroneous, because we do, in fact, have maps of the
seafloor--all of it. Not all of them are highly detailed, but they do
exist. (And some /are/ quite detailed.)
Likewise, there are entire series of maps of Mars and Venus published by
USGS and NASA. They aren't terribly detailed (e.g., 1:2,000,000 and
1:5,000,000), but they do exist. In the case of Mars, I think the whole
surface has been mapped. Not sure about Venus.
So I think this statement, if taken literally, would boil down to a
semantic argument over what's meant by the phrase "more detailed". It's
quite possible that there are /parts/ of Mars or Venus that have been
mapped at greater detail than /parts/ of our ocean floor, but I'd really
hesitate to say anything stronger than that because I know the reverse
is also true: parts of our seafloor have been mapped in great detail,
far greater than anything of Mars or Venus that I've ever run across.
===================
What do you think? I'm starting to think the answer might also depend on
how one defines "map" or "mapped"!
mf
--
Michael Fry
Senior Map Librarian
National Geographic Society
1145 17th St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.857.7098 <tel:202.857.7098>
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