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.