Generation of Digital Topographic Maps of Planetary Bodies

In recent years, the exploration of the solar system was intensified. Several space missions have been planned, launched, or are in operation yet. Some of them are supplied with modern camera experiments: the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express or the Cassini Imaging Science SubSystem (ISS). Especially HRSC data are well suited to derive Digital Terrain Models and color orthoimages, which are of high importance for cartography. Along with these missions, new mapping programs have been started, e.g., the Topographic Image Map Mars 1:200,000 series. For supporting such challenges and aiming for automation of the mapping process, the cartographic software package “Planetary Image Mapper” (PIMap) has been developed at Technische Universität Berlin. With only few interactive post processing steps, this flexible software enables the generation of high quality topographic maps or map series for various planetary bodies. Results are digital map sheets in PDF, containing all raster and vector data. PIMap is predominantly used for Mars Express cartography at Technische Universität Berlin. It has been implemented at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in order to map the medium-sized icy satellites of the Saturnian system. In this paper, the generation of digital topographic maps by utilizing the features of the PIMap software system is described. Different map examples of planetary bodies, such as Mars and Saturnian satellites, are presented. A combined topographic-thematic map of Mars is shown in a companion paper.