What's odd about the Google Moon map is the annotation "Imagery (C) 2005 NASA". First of all, NASA products, being in the public domain are not copyrighted. Secondly, the map is almost certainly created from the 1980's USGS shaded relief (airbrush) "I" (USGS Investigation series) maps. Current (color coded for topography) versions are available at http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Gallery/MapsAndGlobes/moon.html . It's surprising they didn't just use Clementine imagery which has essentially global coverage at about 250 m resolution or better. For a recent program we did at a Coconino Astronomical Society meeting I made up a list of on-line lunar resources, maps, and images that may be of interest to amateurs, especially for observing the near side at high resolution. I've copied this below. - Brent = = = = = Useful Links Lunar Images and Mapping General: - USGS: http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/ - NSSDC: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/moonpage.html - LPI: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/moon.html Lunar Orbiter images: - http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/LunarOrbiterDigitization/ - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/ USGS Global Lunar Maps and Topography: - http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Teams/Geomatics/photogrammetry/topography_lunar.html Clementine Globe Map of the Moon: - http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Gallery/MapsAndGlobes/moon.html#LunarGlobe Clementine Maps of the Moon: - USGS Map-a-Planet: The Moon: http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/PDS/public/explorer/html/moonpick.htm Miscellaneous Lunar Maps: - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/ Interactive Maps of the Moon (for displaying data layers): - http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/webgis/ Consolidated Lunar Atlas: - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/ Apollo Images: - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/ Nomenclature: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/jsp/FeatureTypes2.jsp?system=Earth&body=Moon&systemID=3&bodyID=11 B. Archinal USGS Astrogeology Team 2005 May 21 ----- Forwarded by Brent A Archinal/GD/USGS/DOI on 07/21/2005 11:28 AM ----- FreeLists Mailing List Manager <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 07/20/2005 07:42 AM Please respond to az-observing To: az-observing digest users <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cc: Subject: az-observing Digest V5 #189 ... From: Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx> Subject: Google Moon Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:42:35 -0400 On the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, Google has produced a map of the moon with a similar interface as their Google Maps. http://moon.google.com/ Be sure so zoom to the highest-magnification view. Tom ... -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.