World Wind
NASA has come up with a cool software for browsing the world. No, seriously.
Check out World Wind 1.3.
World Wind is a software which is in many ways similar to Keyhole, and is free to use. It has a LOT of features packed in it and you can even zoom to a street/building level. They (too) use the "mosaic" technology for getting layers of details. Of course, details on US landscape are more pronounced. Historical data (like forest fires in Africa, Hurricane data, Volcano eruptions), Weather data (water vapor, cloud cover, etc) can be mapped on to the areas for viewing.
My friend who studies geography says that NASA have capabilities to zoom upto 1m resolution, do lateral scans, etc. Of course, these are all strictly off limits to the casual user and are safely locked up in NASA's vaults.
Recently, World Wind was released as an open source software.
I like the zoom feature in World Wind - zoom out from the earth until it becomes a small ball and scroll your mouse like crazy to go to a street level!!
Here are some sample pictures which I got while fiddling with World Wind.
WORLD WIND - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
MADRAS - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
FL - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
Note: If you want to download it, make sure that you have a pretty good video RAM. It is seriously big.
Check out World Wind 1.3.
World Wind is a software which is in many ways similar to Keyhole, and is free to use. It has a LOT of features packed in it and you can even zoom to a street/building level. They (too) use the "mosaic" technology for getting layers of details. Of course, details on US landscape are more pronounced. Historical data (like forest fires in Africa, Hurricane data, Volcano eruptions), Weather data (water vapor, cloud cover, etc) can be mapped on to the areas for viewing.
My friend who studies geography says that NASA have capabilities to zoom upto 1m resolution, do lateral scans, etc. Of course, these are all strictly off limits to the casual user and are safely locked up in NASA's vaults.
Recently, World Wind was released as an open source software.
I like the zoom feature in World Wind - zoom out from the earth until it becomes a small ball and scroll your mouse like crazy to go to a street level!!
Here are some sample pictures which I got while fiddling with World Wind.
WORLD WIND - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
MADRAS - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
FL - Crtsy: World Wind, NASA
Note: If you want to download it, make sure that you have a pretty good video RAM. It is seriously big.
posted by tt_giant at
5:56 PM
5 Comments:
Does it zero in on my treasure buried in Venkatanarasimharajuvaripetta and unearth it, much to my dismay? :-)
Just kidding, I have seen Keyhole and have been amazed by it. This would be one more thing to try out. Thanks for highlighting it.
By
Krish, at June 13, 2005 8:23 PM
Amazing link.... Need to try it out by this weekend, to view my street in India...
By
Ram C, at June 13, 2005 11:30 PM
Thennavan: funny you mentioned that place (en route to tirupati). At one point of time (maybe still), it was rumored to be the longest name a place has in Asia!
Ram: Enjoy!, but again, use caution. I tried to scroll (zoom in) to0O much and my computer crashed.
By
tt_giant, at June 14, 2005 6:48 AM
Wow, amazing.! Wonder how you found this.!
All companies are doing the Satellite views now...But this is a lot different.
Liked the Chennai view.
By
Narayanan Venkitu, at June 14, 2005 5:48 PM
Narayanan: Although I had heard about it, my cousin sent me the actual download link. My home computer is not strong enough for this program, so I installed it in my work comp. So, if you see me squinting and concentrating behind my desk, its because I am trying to zoom into world wind. :-)
By
tt_giant, at June 14, 2005 6:02 PM
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