THE FIRST RECONNAISSANCE OF MERCURY WAS CARRIED OUT BY THE MARINER 10 SPACECRAFT IN THE 1970S. THREE FLYBYS OF THE INNERMOST PLANET YIELDED IMAGES OF JUST UNDER HALF OF THE GLOBE AT A VARIETY OF VIEWING GEOMETRIES AND RESOLUTIONS. THESE IMAGES WERE USED AS THE BASIS FOR A SERIES OF MERCURY QUADRANGLE MAPS; HOWEVER THE MAP AUTHORS DID NOT FOLLOW A UNIFORM SET OF MAPPING CONVENTIONS OR UNITS MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO COMPARE THE GEOLOGY OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE IMAGED HEMISPHERE OR TO INTERPRET BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE MAPS. THE MERCURY SURFACE SPACE ENVIRONMENT GEOCHEMISTRY AND RANGING (MESSENGER) SPACECRAFT ORBITED MERCURY DURING 2011 15 AND IMAGED THE PLANET IN ITS ENTIRETY WITH THE MERCURY DUAL IMAGING SYSTEM (MDIS). MESSENGER IMAGE DATA PRODUCTS GENERATED DURING THE MISSION WERE USED AS THE BASIS OF THE FIRST GLOBAL THEMATIC MAP OF MERCURY PREPARED BY MEMBERS OF THE MESSENGER SCIENCE TEAM AT 1:15 000 000 SCALE WITHIN A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS). DATASETS FROM OTHER PUBLISHED AND ONGOING LOCAL AND REGIONAL MAPPING EFFORTS WERE INCORPORATED INTO THE MAP WHEREVER POSSIBLE ALBEIT OFTEN SUBJECT TO DIFFERENCE IN RESOLUTION OR MAP SCALES INCLUDING A GLOBAL MAP OF CRATER AND BASIN RIMS GHOST CRATERS SMOOTH PLAINS AND TECTONIC STRUCTURES. THE LOCATIONS OF FEATURES NOT RESOLVABLE AT THIS MAP SCALE SUCH AS PYROCLASTIC VENTS AND HOLLOWS WERE REPRESENTED BY POINT FEATURES TO ASSIST FUTURE ANALYSES. IMPACT FEATURES>90 KM IN DIAMETER WERE ALSO CLASSIFIED WITH A REVISED VERSION OF THE PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED FIVE-AGE CLASSIFICATION SCHEME FOR MERCURY AND THEIR EJECTA DEPOSITS MAPPED; BELOW THIS DIAMETER THESE DEPOSITS WERE GENERALLY TOO SMALL TO BE RESOLVED AT THE MAP SCALE. IMPORTANTLY THIS THEMATIC MAP AND ITS COMPONENT ELEMENTS PRECEDED THE RELEASE IN MAY 2016 OF THE FINAL BASE MAPS GENERATED FROM THE MESSENGER MISSION. THESE NEW DATA INCLUDE THE FIRST GLOBAL DEM GLOBAL AND REGIONAL MULTISPECTRAL MOSAICS WITH A NEW EMPIRICAL CALIBRATION AND A GLOBAL MONOCHROME IMAGE MOSAIC BASE MAP AT LARGELY UNIFORM VIEWING GEOMETRY AND A RESOLUTION OF ~166 M/PIXEL (TOGETHER WITH TWO ADDITIONAL BASE MAPS TAKEN UNDER DIFFERENT LIGHTING CONDITIONS). ACCORDINGLY ALL PREVIOUS MAP-BASED STUDIES COULD NOT AVAIL OF THE FULL ORBITAL IMAGING CAMPAIGNS THE MOST COMPLETE GLOBAL CONTROL NETWORK FOR MERCURY YET DEVELOPED AND THE FIRST GLOBAL DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL OR THE FINAL CALIBRATIONS OF THE MESSENGER IMAGE DATA. DESPITE THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXTUAL UTILITY OF THE CURRENT GLOBAL THEMATIC MAP WE ANTICIPATE THAT A GLOBAL GEOLOGICAL MAP OF MERCURY PREPARED TO USGS STANDARDS WITH THESE NEW DATA AS BASE MAPS WOULD BE OF GREATER INTEREST AND BENEFIT TO THE PLANETARY COMMUNITY AND WOULD SUBSTANTIALLY AID ONGOING AND FUTURE SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES AND EXPLORATION EFFORTS OF THE PLANET.