Hey, jackamus- I've got dibs on the mountains.

Sure, treworld, it cost a bis-a$$ can o' cash. But, living in a world where there's a nasty war boiling in the Middle East and a small-brained nutcase is thumping his widdle chest and screaming that he's going to get us, I'd mind nothing better than looking at pics of a place forty million miles away.

OMFG, someone call the DOJ! GOOGLE has a MONOPOLY on the MARS MAP MARKET!

heh

This is great for people who care about Mars.

I'd prefer that they update Earth with more precise photos but this is OK since I doubt it cost them a lot (treworld : where did you see that it cost them 10 M$ ??? They just had to tile NASA data into GMaps).

And there was full data for Mars in Google Earth predecessor (aka Keyhole).

Some talk about street level photos in Windows Live Local... yes that's great but only in the US !!! Google Maps and Google Earth provide detailed photos all around the world and is not only for the US !

Let Google choose what they want to do ! They do it well... Microsoft try to copy every product Google launch (Google Maps, Google Desktop Search, Picasa, etc...) as well as Google try to copy from Microsoft work (Google talk is the only exemple that comes to my mind).

They are fighting and it's good for us :D

Do not shoot blindly at Google when they release innovative tools... A tool is not for you ? So what ? Just don't use it !

Mars does not revolve around Earth ? So what ?

I've got news for ya : you're not alone on Earth and it can be usefull to other people !!!

Google works for the masses and they do it well :D

Hey where is the hybrid mode? i want to see the streets overlayed ^_^

When will they finally realize that Mars is just one of Earth's moons? There's no freakin' life there! It's red because the sun is closer to it. I can't believe Google spent $10 million to build this feature.

Google Moon is the cheese, so Google Mars might be some kinda candy bar...lol. BTW treworld, the Sun is closer to earth than to Mars.

Lol. I didn't realize Mars revolved around the Earth.

Won't NASA be surprised...

Great tool! Finally the NASA work is used by a company with brains.
Google is THE company. Not everything is money in this universe... But reading your post is evident you don't even know in which planet you live, do you?
Free education for you: We're on the 3rd rock around that star that shines on the sky (and spins around your little soul), Mars is the 4th. My 2 cents...
Ahh, and Mars is red because is communist!

Ummmmmmmmm, Yeah... Mars is amoon of earth huh? And it's closer to the sun huh? OK... And what planet are you from?

Lighten up people...It's only Mars. I'll be using Google Mars (LOL) To map the spots I plan to vacation at next year!

kinda cool, but hopefully they didn't use up their resources on Mars when they should take a look at Microsoft's local live beta and the ability to see street level images, which I could see myself using when trying to find some little hole in the ground building in downtown. Also kind of comical that Google Mars only has one image which when you zoom out you see it tiled. Any idea what the square mileage of this image is and how big mars overall is? I have no clue, but just curious how small of a fraction this image is.

Zoom to the max on Google Maps, then zoom to the max on Google Mars.

Looks like it's a repeating whole world, or close to.

oh snap!

No cheese on Mars.

*sighs*

People you get so bent out of shape over this! I think it's great and educational. Tell me, Where does Nasa post this stuff for the public to see? It doesn't. It's good we can see the result of our taxes at work.
As for the comments on Germany - You're talking about Government policies there. There are huge legal issues with showing another country's details to the world. Google may have started out as a search engine but it's growth as a company to help educate the new generations of web users is a good thing! If you knew anything about Google as a company you would know this isn't something Google set out to do on it's own. They give their employees time to work on their own personal projects to bring creativity and new features to Google. Everything from Google Earth, Froogle, Gmail, etc these were all employee side projects they did in their own free time to add to Google's ability to service it's users. Why would the employees want to do this for Google? Well they get paid for their free time for one thing, and the company really takes care of it's employees. Do some research on thier corprate site to find out more info. Google doesn't sell you anything. Google advertizes, and Google gives you links you request when you search for something. It's the different companies' choice to pay Google to make them the first link you see or not. What's nice about seeing Mars? Well If you're an amature astronomer, a child with dreams to be a space pilot someday (because the day will be apon us soon when the public will fly around in space), or you are a school teacher and want to show the class accurate details, Or you're just interested for no reason at all... You can just look it up now for FREE. What other company can show you things like these for free? It's free to you because you seached for something on Google. Kind of like using a public school. Its free to you because you pay taxes and you're a citizen.
If you don't think it's something that intrests you or will have an impact on your life then don't worry about it! Just because it doesn't affect you in any way doesn't mean it doesn't affect other people somewhere else in the world.

Man! How cool! I've been waiting for so long to get directions from Olympus Mons to the Polar cap. I'm always getting lost, and having to ask directions on Mars is a pain in the a$$

yeah its hard to get directions from martians, ever since they got all pissy that we crashed a mars rover into their tennis court.

Google didn't map a damn thing! Thay took NASAs photos and applied them for their use. The good people of the USA paid for the photos by supporting NASA, now Google will use "your" photos and try to sell you junk through ads.

Why are you so angry? Google worked with NASA. Google did not steal the pictures. Before complaining like you did... how about you provide a better educational service to the world for free.

Thanks for clearing up the confusion. I'm sure a lot of people would have assumed that Google independently sent orbital spacecraft to photograph Mars. Luckily, we've got Bogunch to reveal the secret that Google used NASA's photos. I hope my 4th grade teacher never figures out that I looked up George Washington in the encyclopedia and didn't really interview him in person for my report.

wrong, they are using free photos on a free service, and using the money they get from ads so that they dont have to charge us end users. i really think thats a win-win situation, as you dont have to buy anything from the ads and you get to look at mars.

and i dont see you marketing free services.

I can only agree with joe! i dont need mars i want them to do a better job of germany 4 example! i live there and in some parts (even big cities) the imaging really sucks! so please give europe a higher res! not mars!

They need to do something better with their time.

Who cares about Mars!!!!!

they do this so people can grow more educated about the universe and its contents ...
they do this for the same reazon they teach science on schools and have kids learn about the rest of the planets ...
if you say this about google, what then, do you say about the people that have meassured the distance between the sun and the planets ... :P

agree!

Google is a search engine, not a scientific research facility studying space like NASA.

Google will decide what they are... not you...

Would their time be better spent in the design and fabrication of a pacifier for you?

Many people care about Mars. I care. Maybe you have not noticed but the population of Earth is growing rapidly. The resources of Earth are finite. It is not a matter of "if" but "when" humans will colonize another planet or planets. It may not happen in your life time or even your children's life time, but it will happen.
People have to imagine... they have to wonder.... even dream.... then they research and build. Google has provided a small part of the whole process.

maybe when you are owner of a multi-billion dollar company, then you can tell your own people what to do, until then i dont think you have the right to tell google what to do, mainly cause you dont even pay to use their services.

and frankly i dont think google or anyone else cares about your uneducated opinion.

i agree

It's a great view of the planet. I hope they map out the rest of the planets.

Well... we don't have a whole lot of up-close imagery for the other planets. It would be cool though.

NASA do not have the best pictures from orbit.
The ESA's Mars Express has wonderful ones, and more coming all the time.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/