Western Science

Interactive Mapping of Mars

What is IMARS?

With funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s PromoScience program and support from the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Western Ontario, the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) has developed a new web-based initiative called Interactive Mapping of Mars (IMARS). The general objective of the IMARS is for user to plan and design a rover mission to Mars—utilizing the free Google Earth plug-in—based on a given mission goal (e.g., to find evidence for past water flow). This interactive online activity involves users passing a series of increasingly complex mission scenarios and collected badges along the way for successful completion of individual missions. Ultimately, users are able to select and plan their own mission. Training in Mars image analysis and the recognition of geologic surface features is provided through a series of tutorials that feature images and descriptions of various classes of landforms (e.g., volcanoes, impact craters, etc.) and quizzes to test the user’s learning.

What are the technical requirements to run IMARS?

IMARS requires the Google Earth plug-in for your internet browser. The minimum and recommended system requirements for PC, Mac, and Linux systems can be found here. A high-speed internet connection is recommended for the best performance. The Google Earth plug-in is compatible with the following web browsers:

  • Microsoft Windows (Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8)
    • Google Chrome 5.0-37.0 (32-bit)
    • Internet Explorer (not supported)
    • Firefox 2.0+ (The plug-in won't install while Firefox is running.)
    • Flock 1.0+
  • Apple Mac OS X 10.6 or later (any Intel Mac)
    • Google Chrome 5.0-37.0[1]
    • Safari 3.1+
    • Firefox 3.0+ (The plug-in won't install while Firefox is running.)

The plug-in might work correctly on other browsers that support extensions, but these browsers are not officially supported. If you are having trouble with the plug-in in Google Chrome, please visit the Chrome help center to learn how to update to the latest version.

I don’t have the Google Earth plugin. How do I get it?

The plugin is available as a free download from Google.

How can I tell if I already have the Google Earth plug-in installed?

Visit the Google Earth plug-in page and scroll down—if it’s installed, you’ll see a yellow bar with a message that says “Good news, you already have the Google Earth plug-in installed.” If you don’t, you can download it from that same page.

I have the plug-in installed but IMARS isn’t working. What’s wrong?

Your browser might be set to block plug-ins. If you are using Google Chrome, look at the right side of your address bar. If there is an icon of a puzzle piece with a red X through it, the plug-in is being blocked. Click on the puzzle piece and select “Always allow plug-ins from imars.uwo.ca”. This will allow IMARS to work whenever you visit the site.

I’m trying to plan my mission, but I don’t know about the Mars surface features the missions are asking me about! How do I learn about them?

Start off with the Tutorial section to learn about the different types of geological features you will encounter in your Mars rover mission planning. Once you’ve completed the 7 short tutorial sections, you should be good to go!