The 2019 Annual Meeting of Planetary Geologic Mappers was held at the U.S. Geologic Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona, on June 12–14.  Thirty-three oral and poster presentations were given, discussing progress on geologic mapping projects from Mercury to Pluto and many places in between.  An update on the status of the U.S. Planetary Mapping Program was presented by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Planetary Mapping Coordinator, James Skinner, as well as updates on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software from Marc Hunter and on planetary nomenclature issues from Tenielle Gaither, both of the USGS.  A new oral session was added on Teaching Planetary Mapping, which will be included in future meetings.  This topic lead to a discussion to develop a Planetary Geologic Mapping Summer Workshop, akin to the Planetary Volcanology Summer School run by the University of Hawaii.  The goal of the Planetary Geologic Mapping Workshop will be to train students and professionals in the skills of planetary geologic mapping, including training in mapping using ArcGIS.  Devon Burr (Northern Arizona University) is leading a working group to develop plans for the workshop, which will result in a NASA proposal to support the workshop.

PGM meetings usually include one training day to go over procedures on various aspects of planetary mapping.  This year, the meeting focused on a GIS Roundtable, discussing changes in mapping procedures in ArcGIS Pro and on procedures for reviewing geologic maps.

In addition to oral and poster sessions, the 2019 PGMM included multiple community discussion sessions to discuss the health of the U.S. planetary mapping program, and issues relevant to its success.  A series of findings were developed, and will be posted to the MAPSIT website after review by the MAPSIT Steering Committee.

The 2020 Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting will be held at Planetary Science Institute (PSI) offices in Denver, Colorado, during the week of June 15–19, 2020.  David A. Williams (Arizona State University) is stepping down after 5 years as the Planetary Mapping Community Representative on the MAPSIT Steering Committee.  His replacement is Peter Mouginis-Mark (University of Hawaii), pending approval.  Please direct any questions on planetary mapping to Peter ([email protected]) or Jim Skinner ([email protected]).

For more information about the meeting, visit PGM 2019. To view the program and abstracts, visit the PGM 2019 Program and Abstracts.

 — Text provided by David Williams