Download the new JMARS Beta Version!
Why a Beta version? What does that mean?
We have included numerous bug fixes and new features (which are described below), but some of the new additions are works in progress where we are interested in user feedback on the implementation so far before we complete the remaining work for the feature. An example of this is the new Investigate Layer which is the start of an effort to expose some of the charting functionality currently used in the Map and Stamp layers and make it work consistently across all of JMARS. So far, we've implemented a new 'data spike' feature, but our intention is to extend that charting functionality to include profile lines and polygonal regions as well.
If you have feedback or suggestions for these new beta features, this is a great time to pass them along to us. We can't promise to implement every ideas, but if we get a lot of feedback about certain features, we're more likely to put additional effort into enhancing those.
Will the Beta replace my current JMARS? What if I want to go back?
As long as you pick a different install directory for the new JMARS beta, it can be installed alongside existing JMARS installations without any issues. The JMARS beta will give you the option to update to any newer beta versions we release. If you decide you no longer want the beta version of JMARS, you can uninstall it without affecting your normal JMARS installation.
We've tried hard to make existing JMARS (3.0.4) session files work in the beta, and the beta should be good about saving and restoring it's own sessions, but it's possible that session files created in the beta (3.0.5.x) won't work with older JMARS (3.0.4), so please be careful not to overwrite your existing session files.
There have also been some changes between how JMARS caches some data products, particularly stamp imagery. We recommend clearing your cache via the Help->Manage Cache menu when switching between beta and non-beta versions of JMARS.
What's changed in this Beta?
Java version
We've updated the version of Java7 that we bundle with JMARS to include the latest fixes that are available. Don't worry - the Java that we include with JMARS is only used for JMARS, (or in the case, the JMARS beta) which means that it won't conflict with the version of Java you have installed on your system for other applications, and it won't create any additional requests to update Java on your system. This is a minor update, and we have no reason to believe it will cause conflicts for any users, but we don't have the resources to exhaustively test everything on every operating system out there. If you notice any new issues, let us know, and we'll do our best to address them.
Installer version
Similar to the above explanation, we've updated our installer code to the latest version that's available. Again, we have no reason to believe this should introduce any problems.
General Changes
-JMARS now runs with US Localization, regardless of the user's system preferences. This is a workaround to prevent issues that have occurred when coordinates and numeric values use different delimeters in different environments.
-Cut / Copy / Paste / Select all are now available via a pop-up menu on all text entry fields in JMARS
-Shortcuts for the above all use the Ctrl key as their modifier (ctrl-x, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-a)
-This is not the preferred key combination for Macs, but is the best we can do until Apple and Oracle do a better job of playing nicely with one another.
-Info tab now provides clickable http links to additional resources where available -Added forward and back buttons near the Lon/Lat box. The forward / back functionality has been available via the menu for some time and is otherwise unchanged.
-Additional troubleshooting information in the help report
-New Options menu that allows selection of a default browser to use within JMARS
Investigate Tool / Layer
-New Investigate Layer is automatically created when the Investigate Tool is selected
-Investigate Tool now includes both list and chart views while mousing around
-New tutorial created to explain new functionality
-Check out a quick tutorial on the Investigate Tool/Layer, click HERE
Support for additional bodies
-Vesta (including two different reference systems, see tooltips for more)
-Various moons of Uranus
Georeferenced Map Upload
-Custom Map upload now handles parsing of geospaital information out of georeferenced datasets (eg. geotiffs)
3D Layer Enhancements
-Additional options for selecting how to scale the z-axis
-Additional keyboard shortcuts for panning the 3D view
Stamp Layer Enhancements
-Initial impementation of numeric stamp support:
-floating point data can be displayed in the stamp layer
-numeric stamps can be accessed and processed further in the Advanced Map interface
-THEMIS BTR, THEMIS PBT, HRSC DTM, HiRISE DTMs can now all be rendered as graphical or numeric products
-Fixes for a number of rendering issues -(Again, we recommend clearing your cache when switching between beta and non-beta versions of JMARS)
Shape Layer Enhancements
-Increased precision of Shape coordinates to allow use with HiRISE images at 500,000 ppd.
Crater Counting
-Ability to edit lat/lon/diameter/color of craters in the crater table
-New ability to select existing craters and drag them to new locations
-New ability to select existing craters and edit size and color via the mouse scroll wheel
-Now possible to select multiple existing craters in Select Mode via rubber-band box selection
-Fixed the ability to sort craters by color
TES Layer
-Enhanced export to make it easy to load exported data into davinci or the JMARS shape layer
-Added xaxis columns and values to the data being exported
J-Earth
-Added a layer to pull map tiles from OpenStreetMap