NASA World Wind

I just installed NASA World Wind and I'm simply amazed at how smoothly it runs, all the features it has and the fact that NASA produced it. World Wind lets you move around the world in real time, spinning a globe if you're zoomed out, or exploring a particular city or area if you're zoomed in. You choose the orientation, and the zoom, and you can look down from a bird's eye view or tilt the camera and observe by looking across the land.

It can render areas using topo maps, or satellite photos, or using a variety of other sources. It's simply incredible. And it can overlay many types of information, including latitude/longitude lines, place names, landmarks, political boundaries, and more. It renders in 3D, so when you're looking across the landscape the mountains rise up into the sky and obscure the land beyond.

This is not a game. After exploring the program a bit, and zooming in and out (with the Home and End keys), it would behoove you to spend a few minutes reading the key chart in help and exploring the different ways of viewing the display.

It's a huge download, about 175mb, but well worth it if you love maps and geography and have a fast computer with lots of space (and a fast internet connection).


Blog Tag: Links