The white box indicates the general region into which Mars Pathfinder landed. The wide, straight valley entering the map from the lower right is Ares Vallis. North is up in both images. These features allowed the Mars Pathfinder team to quickly identify the location of the lander in the Ares Vallis setting. Image has been map-projected so that north is up.
Illumination is from the upper left.
Prior to the Mars Global Surveyor mission, this was the highest-resolution image of the area. These lines were published in Science, v. 278, p. 1746, December 5, 1997. The lighter, thinner sightlines are the same lines, adjusted to match the same features as seen in the higher resolution MOC image 25603. The lander and rover would be located at the center of the colored box. North is up, illumination is from the lower right.