I'm more into effects that drive gameplay. So if the first scan highlights points of interest, you then have to SC directly over those to perform a more detailed scan.
If it just draws a pretty grid and some mumbo-jumbo graphs, it's nice the first time but you won't notice it after a hundred times.
...I hope FD will implement the level 2 & 3 surface scans that we already have in our statistics menu, so that we have to approach planets until we are in a low orbit. In such a case the UI mockup you linked would be the perfect visualization for such high-level scans!
I love the idea of these Mass Effect-style graphical effects too, but it's like wstephenson says - if they just look pretty, they will soon lose their appeal. Obliging the player to enter low orbit over the planet, or to fly directly over points of interest, would be a nice way of keeping things interesting... but to take that idea further, what if you had to actually fly all the way around a planet in order to perform a detailed scan? That way, players would actually be required to fly their ship, instead of just getting close and then waiting for the scan to complete... and there would be a certain degree of skill involved in finding the optimum path around the planet, trying to get as close as possible without being slowed down by the planet's gravity well!
Of course, flying around a planet in order to perform a detailed scan also makes sense... since it wouldn't be much of a detailed scan if you didn't even map the entire surface! (If you approached the Earth from the side covered by the Pacific Ocean, you would think it was a Water World, after all.) And if you DID have to fly around the planet in order to perform one of these scans, then those Mass Effect graphics could potentially serve an actual purpose - the grid could show you which parts of the surface you have flown over, and which parts you have missed! A skilled pilot would take the optimum route around the equator and scan the entire planet in one pass, but a slightly less talented explorer may accidentally just skirt around the northern hemisphere, and then have to go and perform another orbit to scan the south of the planet, with the fancy graphics helping them determine exactly where they need to go! I don't know how tricky that would be to implement, but if it could be done, it would not just look awesome - it would genuinely BE awesome!
Although having said that, having to fly around every planet in a system (and every moon?) would take forever, so maybe this is not such a bright idea? Well, I suppose as long as those level 2 & 3 scans pay well enough, it would still be a worthwhile endeavour...
