Nasa World Wind

This is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time, Nasa World Mind, it’s challenging Google Earth and kicking it’s butt! You can zoom in from outer space to anywhere on the globe, I zoomed in to my house and the detail was way better than Google Earth, at least the last time I looked at it. Plus, you can view weather events currently happening, fires, floods, and volcano eruptions. You can overlay borders, so you know where your state or country is, and you can overlay it with place names. This is great, check it out here. Note: the current version is Windows only as it requires directx and .net, but future versions should be available to other operating systems as they plan on using java.

World Wind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM elevation data to experience Earth in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there.

Particular focus was put into the ease of usability so people of all ages can enjoy World Wind. All one needs to control World Wind is a two button mouse. Additional guides and features can be accessed though a simplified menu. Navigation is automated with single clicks of a mouse as well as the ability to type in any location and automatically zoom into it.

Posted by Jimmy Daniels Posted in: Nasa No Comments » August 2006