the text of the readme file:
i created this map by using pictures from voyager and galileo:
http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/solarsys/eng/iomap.htm
io is, as its sister europa, one of the galilean moons of jupiter. io was
discovered by galileo and marcus in 1610. io is one of the most interesting
planetoid objects in our solar system, because it is, as well as its sister, more
"earth-like" than any other objects.
there are two major points: first, its surface is very young. there are no craters on
it, like on our moon; and that was a big surprise. the main geologic feature is its
active volcanism, and that´s the second point. io was the first object in outer space
where active volcanos were discovered. so io, as earth, has a core of molten rock, and
is geologic "alive". (soon other volcanic phenomenons on other moons were discovered)
io´s surface is very diversified. the main surface element is sulphur and all its
chemical combinations; and because of the differing temperatures, you have sulfur in
different consistencies and colours. large seas of sulphur and sodium, rivers of
low-viscosity-sulphur, but also natrium. temperatures at some hot-spots rises up
to 2000K, standard temperature is about 130K.
the surface is made up of huge mountains, volcanos, calderas and pateras and vast planes.
calderas are the rests of imploded volcanic caves or exploded volcanos and pateras are
plane craters.
another strange thing is its magnetosphere and its tides. ganymed, europa and io;
these three moons are rotating around jupiter and, more or less, themselves.
because of two other objects, ganymed and europa, io becomes "stretched" about 100m
every tide, which causes an enormous heat. io is within the magnetosphere of jupiter,
and because of that he looses every second one ton of material to jupiter (ionic), an gets
another ton of material (protonic) from jupiter every second.
as you see, making a civ map of io becomes impossible.
i just used the colours; sulphur lakes became seas, and calderas and pateras and mountains
gave the main geologic features. planums became mostly deserts; everything else was pure
fantasy.
the main idea was to create a map, that doesn´t look like these computer generated maps.
i also liked playing on mars and venus, so props to the creators of these maps.
so, hope you have fun, and sorry for my bad english, i´m from germany.
for pictures and short information, see:
http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/solarsys/eng/io.htm
http://www.wappswelt.de/tnp/nineplanets/io.html (german)