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MSL Curiosity


aecomm

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Hello, 

 

I am trying to determine the size of features in a particular MSL Curiosity image, and I'm unsure how to do this. Ultimately, I would like to use the photo, with a scale bar, in a comparison to a terrestrial feature. 

 

I have looked over the PDS Label, but am unsure what to do with the information. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

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Hi there. If you are looking at a Hazcam or Navcam image that is part of a stereo pair, you can use the Notebook's Image Viewer. There are measurement tools built in to let you obtain locations and distances and to view elevation profiles.The tool is a little hard to find--we recently started work on some tutorials to help users like yourself find these tools and learn how to use them, but they still are in production. In the meantime, let me briefly walk you through getting to and using the Image Viewer measurement tools.

 
To get started in this example (a Navcam stereo pair from sol 1292), click on this link: http://an.rsl.wustl.edu/su/y6Y8N

 

Side note, explanation of how I got to this page in the Notebook: Open the Analyst's Notebook for MSL and go to the Sol Summaries (the orange "sun" icon). This shows the data, documents, etc for each sol. If you click on a sol to expand it, you then have an option to expand the Data Products list for that sol. Clicking on any product in the list brings up a window about that product or group of products.

 

Your screen should look something like screen shot 1. On the left is the sol summary list, and on the right is a Navcam stereo pair (and the resulting anaglyph image). We will work with the left image. The shortest was to get to the Image Viewer for that image is to click on the menu button where the red arrow is pointing in screen shot 1.

 

A menu should open and your screen should look like screen shot 2. Now click on the Image Viewer link (in the red box in the screen shot 2). You should now see something like screen shot 3.

 

Depending on your screen size, the Image Viewer space may be pretty small. You can get more area to work with by clicking on the two buttons highlighted in screen shot 3.

 

In the Image Viewer, there is a left side with some controls, and the right side with the image. At the start, you are assigned the Pointer tool. Switch to the Distance Tool by clicking on the ruler icon highlighted in screen shot 4. A few things will happen. 1. The Distance tool icon will be highlighted in yellow to show it is selected. 2. Directions will appear (circled in red on screen shot 4) to show how to use the tool. 3. A purple overlay mask will appear to show where there are XYZ data in the image (purple is out of bounds).

 

In this example I will create a distance using by following the instructions above the image: left click at the starting point, left click again where I want it to end, and then click the Complete button in the instructions. My screen looks like screen shot 5. There is an entry in the Distance table on the left. When I click on that like (in the red box in screen shot 5), the I have the opportunity to change the settings. I chose to increase the label size so it would be a little bigger.

 

Note that you can export the image by selecting File > Download annotated image in the Image Viewer menu.

 

Also, if you sign in with an account, your measurements will be saved and are loaded automatically the next time you open the image in the Image Viewer, even on another computer.

 

There is additional Image Viewer help at this Notebook help page.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, Brilliant! Thank you so much for the tutorial. I'll make sure to disseminate the information to my lab group.

 

Follow-up: I'm using a mastcam image (http://an.rsl.wustl.edu/su/Ci4o7W5Dbd) and have the same question: In the absence of the measurement tool capability, do you have a workflow or information page I can refer to so as to determine the scale and orientation of the image? 

 

Thanks for all your help!

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Glad to hear the tutorial helped. Although not trivial, you can use the Mastcam SIS (Software Interface Specification) in conjunction with individual product labels to work out the pointing information. The scale is a bit tougher. We are working on adding image footprints to the traverse map to show orientation. We will also consider adding pointing information to the product overview page to at least provide basic information about where the image is relative to the rover.

 

The Mastcam SIS is available here: http://an.rsl.wustl.edu/su/t8F4Tcw3

Note that this link may change as documents are updated. I found the document from the Resources tab under "Mission and instrument data set documents" and then choosing "Mastcam".

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  • 2 years later...

Hello,

Has the manner in which distance/scaling is determined via a tool been updated since this post?

I do understand that a stereo pair is required, and Tom Stein gives a NAVCAM L/R as an example.  Of course, those are considered stereo pairs.

But you now have organized the L and R Mastcam images as pairs.  I have not been able to activate the distance tool with these, though.  Is is due to the fact that the L Mastcam images are wide angle, while the R shots are tight?  

Any help here is greatly appreciated.  I am still learning my way around this site.  

 

Thanks,

Jimmy R

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You are correct, Jimmy. The Mastcam L/R have different fields of view which can make working with the stereo pairs more difficult. The Notebook uses Navcam XYZ data products generated by the team to support the measurement and distance tools. However, the Mastcam team does not produce XYZ data products, thus the Notebook measurement tools can't support Mastcam images taken as stereo pairs.

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Tom,

I truly appreciate the quick response.   I realize this thread is three years old!   We work with stereo pairs, creating stereoscopic LR and RL cross-view imagery.   This site makes this much easier as you have the images already coupled.

Thank you, your response makes sense and was helpful.  Also, I would like to note that the instructions provided for using the measurement tools are very well presented.  Nothing is vague and we truly, truly appreciate the time put in here on everything.  Extreme value.

 

Jimmy R

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  • 1 month later...

 The distance tool works great for me, but I am having issues with the profile tool.  Each time I use it, an error is generated "Rats..."  and I have to back out of the current image and then re-enter.  At that time, I find a profile height has been successfully generated; however, once I try to view the profile, the error is generated again.  

Is there a known problem going on with this?

Thank you...

Jimmy R

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Works beautifully now.  Thank you for the quick response and action.  It was working properly within an hour of my post.

  Nice...

I have a question regarding the profile charts and the zero reference.

Where the distance along the profile is 0m,  the elevation is usually something other than 0m.   My measurements normally report something like (0,2.042).

My question is:  Why is the profile elevation starting reference not the same as the one used for distance along the profile?  

 

I'm sure it's simple.  Thank you for your help.   

 

 

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The profile plot y -axis is elevation in site frame. To be specific, the elevation values shown are the rover's negative z-axis values because in site frame, the rover's z-axis is positive down. You will notice in the attached example, the elevation of the first point is z = -2.04m in the location list and 2.04m in the profile plot. (Remember, the profile shows elevation as -z values.) If you change the Coordinate frame from Site to Rover using the drop down menu, you will see different z values in the location list.

The profile plot x-axis is distance along the profile, with the first point in the plot being the beginning of the profile drawn on the image. This means that, although the plotted elevation is absolute using site frame values, the distance along the profile is relative to the points selected.

Note that the profile calculated returns the elevations along a path as if it were "dropped on the ground" between the two points. The profile is not simply the elevation values of the image pixels under the line drawn on the image.

1034-RLB_489279636RAD-Profile.jpg

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  • 5 months later...

Tom or other...

The ability to delete specific measurements has recently disappeared.  Only the 'Delete All Measurements' is currently available.

Perhaps this is an oversight.  Just wanted to let you know as that is a valuable option to lose.  

 

Thanks

Jimmy R

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Hi, Jimmy. You should be able to delete individual measurements and other elements by clicking on the corresponding trash can icon in the list of elements to the left of the image. See the image below for an example. Note that deleting one annotation may delete others as well. For example, if you delete a location that is the endpoint of a distance measurement, the endpoint locations and the distance measurement all will be deleted. You will receive a warning in such cases asking you to confirm the delete. Please let us know if you still feel that the tool isn't working the way you expect.

I am glad that you find the measurement tools useful. You are welcome to make suggestions for tool enhancements.

delete-measurements.jpg

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