Database User Notes
Fields
Hierarchical Locality Identification
Fields
These are some of the fields currently included in the database - there is scope to include more:
| Field | Data type(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | text | Our site identifier |
| Location | text | Lat and Long range |
| Ownership | text | Briefly outlines cadastral information |
| Access | text | Means of access, nearest supplies and town(s). Contact details for local contacts etc |
| Risks | text | Very brief overview of risks to personnel and mitigation strategies (e.g. water access points etc.) |
| Map - Continental | image | Location Map, shows Local Region box on continental map |
| Map - Regional | image | Location Map, shows local region map with towns, roads, etc |
| Map - Local | image | Higher Resolution map(s) showing roads and natural features (GIS quality) |
| Description | text and image(s) | General description of site, including any nearby photographs or sketches |
| Geology | text | Geological description of site and context |
| Climatic | text and tables | Climatic description of area, with data tables of rainfall, temp, humidity etc |
| Flora & Fauna | text and images | Very brief description of local flora and fauna, any risks to personnel |
| History | text | Very brief general cultural history of site, and history of any research undertaken in area |
| Analogue Value | text and images | Describes analogue value of site and includes GIS and Mars (e.g. MOC) images for comparison of features |
Hierarchical Locality Identification
For the purpose of identifying and cataloguing localities, the following categories are proposed:
| LC | Term | Radius | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Point | < 10 m (101 m) | Identifying a survey or GPS point |
| 2 | Site | < 100 m (102 m) | Identifying a locality with high localised scientific features of interest (e.g. fossiliferous rock) |
| 3 | Location | < 1 km (103 m) | A locality containing points of interest or relevant features (e.g. geomorphology) |
| 4 | Area | < 10 km (104 m) | A locality containing locations of interest or having analogue value (e.g. rover and suit testing) |
| 5 | Range | < 100 km (105 m) | A locality containing localised sites of interest or having analogue value (e.g. free ranging field simulations) |
| 6 | Region | < 1,000 km (106 m) | A region containing multiple regional sites and having general relevance for Mars analogue field studies. |
| 7 | Continent | > 1,000 km (107 m) | For continental identification |
LC is the Locality Category, being the log10 value of the site radius rounded upwards. The radius is order-of-magnitude only and each locality is associated with a rectangular map section bounded by a pair of longitude and latitude values. Localities with LC = 1 can be identified with a unique latitude and longitude pair. All localities with LC >= 2 can be identified by a hierarchical name string, for example a site near the Henbury Craters:
Australia-NT_SW-Henbury-Crater_3-Location_C-Site_32-Point_X
Figure 1 illustrates the hierarchy scheme. Each locality will have associated with it an exclusive topographical definition.
| LC 1 | + | North America | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⌊ | Australia | |||||||
| LC 2 | + | WA_NW | ||||||
| + | WA_N | |||||||
| + | NT_SE | |||||||
| ⌊ | NT_SW | |||||||
| LC 3 | + | Bloods_Range | ||||||
| + | Lake_Amadeus | |||||||
| ⌊ | Henbury | |||||||
| LC 4 | + | Crater_1 | ||||||
| + | Crater_2 | |||||||
| ⌊ | Crater_3 | |||||||
| LC 5 | + | Location_A | ||||||
| + | Location_B | |||||||
| ⌊ | Location_C | |||||||
| LC 6 | + | Site_01 | ||||||
| + | Site_04 | |||||||
| ⌊ | Site_32 | |||||||
| LC 7 | + | Point_X | ||||||
| ⌊ | Point_Y | |||||||
This scheme is not yet implemented in this version.
