NASA's World Wind

World Wind 1.2 X  Features  Download  Manual  NASA's World Wind is a visual treat.  Leveraging the images of the LandSat satellite and radar data from the Space Shuttle, World Wind allows a visual, 3D experience of Earth that is unprecedented.  You can literally go anywhere on the planet, down to a resolution of 15m. World Wind starts you off with the Blue Marble view of the planet -- a true colour image of the entire planet as seen from NASA's Earth Observatory.  From there, you can zoom in on the planet, taking advantage of the LandSat 7 images taken between 1999 and 2003.  The images are continuously being refreshed as new images become available.  Radar data is incorporated to allow you to experience the planet's topography from any direction, and NASA is also working on incorporating data to allow you to dive into the ocean. It doesn't end there however.  NASA has incorporated GIS data from a number of sources to make World Wind quite data rich.  You have access to weather information, such as temperature, rainfall, barometric pressure and cloud cover.  World Wind will also display country and region borders, place names and historical references.  The features of this application is stunning. The download is huge, and as you use World Wind, it downloads images and information of the regions you visit, storing the information on your computer.  The more you use, the more information it stores -- so be warned, it could end up clogging your machine.  Since the application renders maps in 3D, you will also require a fairly recent machine with a good graphics card.  It's fun though, so check it out!