In 2021, between 1-5 February, theUniversity of Padua coordinated the 1st edition of theGeology and Planetary mapping virtual school(https://www.planetarymapping.eu/), which involvedmore than 150 participants spread all over the world andmore than 50 instructors from at least 9 Europeaninstitutions.In planetary exploration programs, geological mapsare crucial for science investigation, safe landing androving, exploration of in situ resources, astronauts’safety, planning of stable settlements, identification ofsites which might suffer biological contamination.Hence, any planetary mission which does not foreseethe production of geological maps is a mission whoseaims are at serious risk. To be prepared for theexponential increase of planetary missions in the yearsto come it is indeed needed that geological maps start tobe produced worldwide, being at the moment the UnitedState Geological Survey the only institute able toproduce such maps on a regular basis. For this reason,the European project PLANMAP and the GMAP actionwithin the EUROPLANET infrastructure have beendevoted to foster the production of innovativegeological maps in support of future European missionsto planetary bodies. Both these activities are led by theDepartment of Geoscience of the University of Paduaaround which different institutions are collecting toform a European network for planetary geological mapproduction.A pivotal aim of the network is to prepare the nextgeneration of planetary scientists to face the challengesof future planetary missions and for sure geologicalmapping is one of the main tools to successfullyovercome them. However, the results obtained in thelast 20 years of science exploration are changingdramatically the technical and scientific procedures toperform geological mapping, so that the topic iscontinuously evolving, and the teaching strategy need tobe continuously renewed and re-focused.The geology and planetary mapping winter schoolwanted to address the most recent outcomes on theproduction of planetary geological mapping.