Man, just when I was finished talking about Google Local and all the views it offers of the United States and the rest of the world. Little did I know that Google was getting ready to go to Mars. You can check out their new offering at Google Mars: http://www.google.com/mars/.

This is not Google's first extra-terrestrial maps -- there's a Google map of moon landings at http://moon.google.com/. But if you zoom all the way in on it, you'll get what I can only describe as a bit of a cheesy surprise.

Google Mars was created by Google in conjunction with Arizona State University -- maybe they needed to do something to celebrate Google opening a new office in Arizona. No matter what the reason, the options to view Google Mars are a little different than the earthly Google Local.

The first thing you'll notice when you open up Google Mars is that it looks like the Martians busted out the Crayolas:



What you're seeing is a map that's shaded by elevation. If you'll look on the upper right there are two additional viewing options: visible and an infrared view. (Neither of them are as colorful as the first one; they are mostly black and white images. For more information about what colors are in the images and why, check out Google Mars' about page.) The midrange views are the most interesting, though you can zoom in VERY close if you like. Craters, anyone?

Obviously I'm not going to be showing you where old Krispy Kremes were on Mars and you're not going to need driving directions. Instead, there are several links in the upper left that point you toward particular Mars features, including mountains, dunes, plains, ridges, and craters. And don't miss the Stories option, which will link to you to ASU stories about that particular feature. Very cool, and the additional stories and photographs are fascinating.

Can't get enough Mars? NASA, as you might imagine, has an extensive site on Mars exploration at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/. (Nice section for kids, too!) SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) has a huge listing of past, current, and upcoming Mars missions along with commentary and links at http://www.seds.org/~spider/mars/mars.html. Space.com has Mars-related headlines and a featured called The Ten Best Mars Images Ever, which includes the "face on Mars" and the "Happy Face Crater". (Google Mars allows you to do keyword searches, so try searching for face and see what the map shows you!)



Earth, Earth's moon, now Mars. Can the rest of the solar system be far behind for Google Maps?