GeoTIFF is an industry standard for embedding geographic information in images. Beginning soon, HiRISE RDRs will include GeoTIFF info in the Jpeg-2000 files. All of the information about the image will continue to be in the RDR label (.LBL plain text file), but with this additional info in the JP2, image viewing software that supports GeoTIFF will be able to take advantage of it.

For example, such software could display the actual coordinates on Mars of the pixels you are looking at, allow you to measure features directly in physical units, or stitch together images based on their absolute location on the planet. A number of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) applications use GeoTIFF; many on our science team have been waiting patiently for this feature to be rolled out.

We have already begun to produce RDRs with GeoTIFF, and they will start appearing in our weekly releases. At some point, a major reprocessing effort will be underway to bring this feature (and others) to all of our pre-existing products.

This brings up the topic of versioning: namely, how to tell which version of a HiRISE product you are working with.

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