An Interesting New Release From N A S A

[waldwolf]

For info:

NASA has released a new version of their free World Wind software.

NASA's "World Wind" v1.3b (released: March 2, 2005)

World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.

Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.

System Requirements

- Windows 2000, XP Home, or XP Professional

- Intel Pentium 3, 1 GHz, or AMD Athlon or higher

- 256 MB of RAM

- 3D Graphics Card

nVidia GeForce 2 Ultra

ATI Radeon 7500

Intel Extreme Graphics 2

- DSL / Cable connection or faster

- 2 GB of disk space

NOTE: This software (including source code) is provided at no charge, subject to terms of NASA's Open Source Agreement here.

Download Size: 171MB

Download Links: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/nasa-ex...ll.exe?download

Homepage: http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/features.html

enjoy

[aaaaaa]

enjoy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sounds kool

have you tried it yourself already? say, zoom in on your location ?

[Abandon]

I think they bought it off someone as I tried this about 4 years ago. Then it was way too slow on my modem.

I found that resolution varied enormously. Some parts of London were good, but really it was mostly the States. I zoomed down and around the Golden Gate bridge.

Resolution depends on the photo images. In popular places they were using regular ariel photography, but places like Thailand had only very low resolution and were not much use. Still, they are always adding detail as it becomes available.

Added: quick note - could people who post images please make sure that they are not more than 600 pixels across as it really screws with the browser configuration when the photos are wider than the screen (I know its fine on 1024/768 screen resolution, but lots of us prefer or are forced to use 800/600) Can't see that the 2 or 3 hundred pixels makes much difference to the picture quality, and a smaller picture does DL faster too. Cheers

Edited March 6, 2005 by pandit35

[sniffdog]

A quick download (11 minutes), this program resembles Keyhole (which is a little more than free, USD599).

There is a lot of info about WorldWind. But even on Hi Speed Internet it still takes a while before the detailed picture is shown.

Anyway, the graphics are great ..... worthwhile to download.

[bartender100]

A quick download (11 minutes), this program resembles Keyhole (which is a little more than free, USD599).

There is a lot of info about WorldWind. But even on Hi Speed Internet it still takes a while before the detailed picture is shown.

Anyway, the graphics are great ..... worthwhile to download.

Blimey,you must have a fast connection,mines going at 25 kb/s and still has an hour left to download,and its been on 1/2 hour already.Are you in Thailand sniffdog?

[sniffdog]

Yes, on True Hi Speed Internet (2.5mbs). Downloaded with Download Accelerator Plus ... reported constant speed: 260-267 kBs.

The last days True is quite good and get constant speeds of 2+ mbs (McAfee).And streaming video is working fine again.

[Dancali]

I don't have much time to play with this right now, so could anybody who has tried Keyhole say how this compares?

Keyhole is just amazing and will change your perception of the world. Somebody mentioned it costing $599, but that's for the commercial package. You can buy it for personal use for just $29/year. I think it's currently free to try for 7 days and there's only a very minimal sign-up required.

[sniffdog]

It seems that 1.3 doesn't work well on my PC. The Layer Manager is blank. And placenames are not available.

I downloaded 1.2e and that works perfect.

[bartender100]

Think I must be stupid,how do you get the pictures,I've tried zooming in on a place,but it only go so far,for example how do you get the Grand Canyon.

[maikee]

Think I must be stupid,how do you get the pictures,I've tried zooming in on a place,but it only go so far,for example how do you get the Grand Canyon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Click on the USGS 1m Ortho Icon at the top of the application. Hit Cntl-H to bring up a download monitor. Just to test things Zoom into the Grand Canyon area slowly... at about the 300KM level you should start getting some map builds, those requests will show up in the download monitor. You'll also see a red highlighted rectangle show up on the map indicating the area being built. Also check out the FAQ by following the link under the help menu, or just use: http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Unofficial_FAQ.

This is NOT an instant gratification program... Go grab you a few of the big Changs and sit back watch your area build... If you want to get say your old stomping grounds in detail it will take quite a while (As opposed to just zooming in quickly to a specific area). Make sure your comp and graphics card is up to at least minimum specs... you are going to need it.

Very cool though when you rotate the map and cruise along seeing the elevations.

[Jai Dee]

For info:

NASA has released a new version of their free World Wind software.

Sounds great waldwolf...

Before I download it, how well is Thailand covered? And what is the resolution like?

[bartender100]

Cheers maikee,got it now.

[maikee]

For info:

NASA has released a new version of their free World Wind software.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds great waldwolf...

Before I download it, how well is Thailand covered? And what is the resolution like?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

JaiDee... realize you weren't asking me specifically but.. According to the FAQ:

"Landsat 7 data is available globally and you can pick out many prominent features in your location. The resolution is 15m per pixel (Community/OnEarth Landsat) and 30m per pixel (NLT Landsat), so you can see major highways, airports, or city centers. However you probably won't be able to see your house and certaintly not your car."

Fun program... it can be a real time killer though

[Jai Dee]

For info:

NASA has released a new version of their free World Wind software.

Sounds great waldwolf...

Before I download it, how well is Thailand covered? And what is the resolution like?

JaiDee... realize you weren't asking me specifically but.. According to the FAQ:

"Landsat 7 data is available globally and you can pick out many prominent features in your location. The resolution is 15m per pixel (Community/OnEarth Landsat) and 30m per pixel (NLT Landsat), so you can see major highways, airports, or city centers. However you probably won't be able to see your house and certaintly not your car."

Fun program... it can be a real time killer though

Thanks for replying maikee... the question was actually directed at anyone reading the thread who had downloaded the software.

I'll give it a go... to h*ll with the time.

[maikee]

For info:

NASA has released a new version of their free World Wind software.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds great waldwolf...

Before I download it, how well is Thailand covered? And what is the resolution like?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

JaiDee... realize you weren't asking me specifically but.. According to the FAQ:

"Landsat 7 data is available globally and you can pick out many prominent features in your location. The resolution is 15m per pixel (Community/OnEarth Landsat) and 30m per pixel (NLT Landsat), so you can see major highways, airports, or city centers. However you probably won't be able to see your house and certaintly not your car."

Fun program... it can be a real time killer though

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for replying maikee... the question was actually directed at anyone reading the thread who had downloaded the software.

I'll give it a go... to h*ll with the time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I couldn't figure out how to post a small image directly into the thread so I posted one to an album here on TV

Don Muang

Pretty fair detail and the ability to rotate the image adds a lot more perspective to what you are viewing... Very thorough placename database as well... Shouldn't have any problem finding out where you live.

cheers

[sniffdog]

The use of placenames is amazing. It seems not a single village in Thailand has been forgotten.

Especially the USGS is amazing. Very detailed, but of course only the US is covered.

Just zoom to any area and the photos will be downloaded automatically. Watch the red area, that's the area updated.

There is quite a lot of info available as well on Wikipedia as other fan sites. I also found some tutorials. It seems a lot of schools use this software.

[maikee]

Slightly off topic... sorry waldwolf.. But NASA has another "product" that you may or may not know about... it's been out for several years now. But, If you are interested in viewing the Internation Space Station, in the night sky then try this link:

ISS Sightings

There are some decent views on March 25th (7pm ish ) and March 30th (5:40AM is).. that is using BKK lat longs.. you'd need to put in your own destination.

Those folks around where there is not much noise pollution should be able to see it really clearly. I did view it from my hotel balcony in Pattaya a few years back, so gives you some indication how bright it can be. If the night is clear, no moon, you sould be able to pick out a little detail using binoculars (Haven't had any to try that though).

If you try and view it.. Set your clock to Atomic time using one of the web sites... Also orient yourself ahead of time to the right direction. Kind of freaky, but it appears exactly on time.

[chanchao]

Note that Keyhole may give higher resolution IF the area is mapped in detail. This for some weird reason is the case for the place I live, Chiang Mai. But not Bangkok.

For some examples of just how far you can zoom in for Chiang Mai:

http://www.netasia.org/album/thumbnails.php?album=13

Again, this is using KEYHOLE, not this Nasa service. Still.. I'd say this is (*&$#(*&@$-awesome.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[sniffdog]

Earlier I reported that 1.3 didn't work properly, but 1.2e did.

I unstalled 1.3 and reinstalled it. Now it works without a problem. Must have been a font problem as there was an error reported in the placesnames.xml file.

[Dancali]

Note that Keyhole may give higher resolution IF the area is mapped in detail.  This for some weird reason is the case for the place I live, Chiang Mai. But not Bangkok.

For some examples of just how far you can zoom in for Chiang Mai:

http://www.netasia.org/album/thumbnails.php?album=13

Again, this is using KEYHOLE, not this Nasa service.  Still.. I'd say this is (*&$#(*&@$-awesome.

Cheers,

Chanchao

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow! I'd basically given up on Thailand when Bangkok had such poor detail. But I'll be sure to check out Chiang Mai soon with Keyhole.