Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Analysis of the USGS Kaguya Terrain Camera (TC) Digital Terrain Maps (DTM)

This analysis provides a GeoJSON file of all USGS produced Kaguya Terrain Camera DTMs (Laura et al. 2024, 2025) and the results of the analysis completed by the LROC team at the Phoenix office of Intuitive Machines in Arizona. The analysis was performed using the Ames Stereo Pipeline geodiff and pc_align applications, as well as an internal RegisterLOLA tool. DTMs were compared to the internal LOLA dataset with night tracks and tracks with a slew greater than 5 degrees filtered out (referred to as the “reference LOLA dataset”). Additionally, a fast Fourier transform was applied to the intersection error raster and geodiff results, that were provided by the USGS, to identify systematic error and cyclical error in the DTMs. Finally, the DTMs were ranked on a scale of 1–5 to classify the magnitude of error in a set of categories, with 1 being the worst DTMs and 5 being the best DTMs. Only those DTMs with a scale of 3 or higher in all categories are recommended; however, DTMs with rankings lower than 3 may be utilized in some cases.

Some records may contain null values. This is either due to a lack of data in the reference LOLA dataset at that location or missing products in the USGS data release.

This GeoJSON file extends from -70 to 70 latitude and is in the IAU_2015:30100 – Moon (2015) – Sphere / Ocentric geographic projection with a longitude domain of -180 to 180

References:
Laura, J.R., Alexandrov, O., Adoram-Kershner, L., Bauck, K., Wheeler, B., Hare, T.M. 2024. Kaguya Terrain Camera, USGS Processed DTMs Analysis Ready Data Release. [https://doi.org/10.5066/P13D7VMG](https://doi.org/10.5066/P13D7VMG).
Laura, J.R., Alexandrov, O., Adoram-Kershner, L., Bauck, K., Wheeler, B.H., Hare, T.M. 2025. Medium Resolution Lunar Topography: An Updated View of the Lunar Surface from Stereophotogrammetrically Derived DTMs, Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-M-6-2025, 197–206. [https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-197-2025](https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-197-2025).

Description of each field in the shapefile (fieldname followed by description):

id
USGS Kaguya TC DTM name in the format: <image1>__<image2>.

gsd (m/px)
Ground Sampling Distance of the DTM product.

Latitude
Center Latitude of the DTM as determined by its centroid.

Longitude
Center Longitude of the DTM as determined by its centroid.

proj:wkt2
Projection of the DTM in wkt2 format.

Image
The Image used to fill the Illumination condition, Incidence Angle, Emission Angle, Phase Angle, Line Rate (ms), Line Exposure (ms), Ground Speed (km/s), and Movement Direction fields.

Illumination Condition
Illumination Condition of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels. Morning implies eastward illumination. Evening implies westward illumination.

Incidence Angle
Incidence Angle of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Emission Angle
Emission Angle of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Phase Angle
Phase Angle of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Line Rate (ms)
Line Rate (ms) of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Line Exposure (ms)
Line Exposure (ms) of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Ground Speed (km/s)
Ground Speed (km/s) of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Movement Direction
Movement direction of the spacecraft as stated in the image labels.

Min Diff
Minimum error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

Max Diff
Maximum error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

10% Quantile
10% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

25% Quantile
25% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

Median Diff
Median error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

75% Quantile
75% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

90% Quantile
90% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

Mean Diff
Mean error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

STDEV
Standard deviation of error from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

abs 10% Quantile
10% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs 25% Quantile
25% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs Median Diff
Median error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs 75% Quantile
75% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs 90% Quantile
90% Quantile error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs Mean Diff
Mean error value from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

abs STDEV
Standard deviation of error from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset, and taking the absolute value of the results.

LOLA RMS
Root mean squared from running geodiff between the DTM and the reference LOLA dataset.

North
Northward shift determined by running pc_align to compare the DTM to the reference LOLA dataset.

East
Eastward shift determined by running pc_align to compare the DTM to the reference LOLA dataset.

Down
Downward shift determined by running pc_align to compare the DTM to the reference LOLA dataset.

Band 2 Median
Median intersection error in Band 2 of the Intersection Error TIFF provided by the USGS. The intersection error TIFF is a raster file created by the Ames Stereo pipeline point2dem application and represents the triangulation error in the DTM.

px/cy
The pixels per cycle period of the most prominent signal with a period of less than half the length of the DTM, as determined by the fast Fourier transform of the intersection error raster.

IE Amp
The fast Fourier transform amplitude of the signal in the px/cy entry.

m/cy
The meters per cycle period of the most prominent signal with a period of less than half the length of the DTM, as determined by the fast Fourier transform of the geodiff CSV provided by the USGS team.

Diff Amp
The fast Fourier transform amplitude of the signal listed in the m/cy entry.

LogNorm Shape
Controls the spread of the log-normal distribution of the USGS geodiff results.

LogNorm Scale
Sets the central tendency of the log-normal distribution of the USGS geodiff results.

Intersection Error ranking
Quality ranking of the intersection error for the DTM on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data from the "Band 2 Median" column.

Intersection Error frequency ranking
Quality ranking based on the fast Fourier transform of the intersection raster provided by USGS on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data in the "IE Amp" column.

LOLA diff frequency ranking
Quality ranking based on the fast Fourier transform of the geodiff CSV provided by the USGS on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data in the "Diff Amp" column.

Vertical position ranking
Quality ranking of the vertical positional offset from the reference LOLA tracks on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data in the "Down" column.

Horizontal position ranking
Quality ranking of the horizontal positional offset from the reference LOLA tracks on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data in the "North" and "East" columns.

LOLA diff IQR ranking
Quality ranking of the offset IQR from the reference LOLA tracks on a scale of 1–5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. Based on data in the "25% Quantile" and "75% Quantile" columns.
