What is Google Mars?
Google Mars is a browser version of Google Maps which provides a view of the planet Mars. It provides many different views like the Visible view, Elevation view and Infrared view. The whole Google Mars project was created in collaboration with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the Arizona State University. It includes data mainly from two NASA Mars missions - Mars Global Surveyor and 2001 Mars Odyssey.
Google Mars is accessible at http://www.google.com/mars/. You can also view a 3D and more detailed version of the Planet Mars in Google Earth now.
How do I use Google Mars?
To use Google Mars, point your browser to http://www.google.com/mars. You will get an Elevation view of Mars with different colors representing different altitudes. You can estimate the altitude by checking out the scale at the lower left of the screen.
You can navigate through the Mars map just as you would in Google Maps - by using the arrows on the navigation bar and zoom slider to the top left. Alternatively you can use your mouse to select a place and drag it to the center of the screen and use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in / out.
Besides the Elevation view, you can also view the map in the Visible view and the Infrared View. The visible view is thel view of the Mars landscape, as you would see it if you were hovering in a spaceship above Mars, but in grayscale for greater clarity. The Infrared view is a mosaic of thermal images which use colors to highlight the temperature of the areas. Warmer areas are brighter and cooler areas are darker.
Switch between any of these views by clicking the appropriate tab on the top right. View all the landscape features like regions, spacecraft, mountains, canyons, dunes, plains, ridges, craters etc by selecting it from the menu of the top left. A list of results will appear in a pane to the left and clicking on a result will take you to that particular location with a description in a bubble above it. You can also search for any particular item and the results will be displayed in the left pane. To get detailed information, click on the description bubble that pops out above your search result on the map.