shrug-l: World Wind

Gary Watry watry at coaps.fsu.edu
Mon Nov 14 07:37:29 EST 2005


http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov <http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/> 

 

World Wind, an open source <http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/NOSA>  3D
interactive world viewer, was created by NASA's Learning Technologies
<http://learn.arc.nasa.gov>  (http://learn.arc.nasa.gov) project, and
released in mid-2004. It is now developed
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/People>  by NASA staff and open source
community developers. 

At its simplest you can think of World Wind as a desk globe, however World
Wind is not a simple desk globe. 

World Wind allows any user to zoom from outer space into any place on Earth.
World Wind leverages satellite imagery and elevation data to allow users to
experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really
there. Virtually visit anyplace in the world. Look across the Andes, into
the Grand Canyon, over the Alps or along the African Sahara. 

Unlike your desk globe World Wind can display thousands of placenames all
over the world, from Country capitals to villages in sparsely populated
regions. You can see country borders, and in some cases intracountry borders
such as US states. 

World Wind can also be expanded to include additional imagery and data..
There have already been a number of add-ons
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Add-on_list>  created, from Norway's
Prehistoric Hillforts
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Add-on:Norway%27s_Prehistoric_Hillfort
s>  to additional planets
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Add-on:The_Planets> . 


Features


World Wind offers the following built-in features: 


Worlds


*	Earth - The planet we live on. 
*	Moon - Usually the brightest object in the night sky. 


Imagery


*	Blue Marble <http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/BMNG>  - World
Wind has a full copy of the Blue Marble, a spectacular true-color image of
the entire Earth. Put together from data of a variety of satellites such as
MODIS and Terra, the Blue Marble can be seen in all its glory at 1 km per
pixel resolution. 
*	LandSat <http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/LandSat_7>  7 -
LandSat 7 is a collection of images from 1999-2003 at an impressive 15 m per
pixel resolution. LandSat 7's resolution makes it possible to see your own
city, neighborhood, or landmarks in your vicinity. Seeing the whole globe
like this puts the world in context with scientifically accurate data. You
can view LandSat imagery in visible colors or in False Color bands. 
*	USGS - United States Geological Survey data. USGS provides
Topography maps, 1-Meter detail images of most of the United States and
Urban Area images of most of the major cities down to detail of .25 Meters. 


Terrain Data


*	SRTM - Combining LandSat 7 imagery with Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission (SRTM) Data, World Wind can display a dramatic view of the Earth at
eye level. Users will literally be able to fly across the world in any
direction. 

[edit
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/index.php?title=World_Wind&action=edit
&section=6> ]


Tools


*	Rapid Fire MODIS
<http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Rapid_Fire_MODIS>  - For getting near
real time images from orbiting satellites with resolution down to 250 m. You
can filter the MODIS data by date and by event. Data is then downloaded and
displays an icon in World Wind showing what event it is and where it
happened. You can zoom in to view the event. 
*	WMS <http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/WMS_Browser>  Browser -
Web Mapping Server allows you to connect to any WMS server such as the
included SVS. 

*	SVS (Scientific Visualization Studio) - Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC) has produced a set of visually intense animations that demonstrate a
variety of subjects such as hurricane dynamics and seasonal changes across
the globe. World Wind can take these animations and play them directly on
the world. Anyone can immediately grasp where the event is taking place as
World Wind rotates automatically into view. 

 

______________________________________________________________

Gary L. Watry


GIS Coordinator
Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
FSU / COAPS
Johnson Building, RM 215
2035 East Paul Dirac Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2840

 

E-Mail: watry at coaps.fsu.edu

 

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