NASA World Wind

[mike h]

It is a program that is similar to "keyhole" (if you have heard of it). It is a compilation of satellite images that cover the world so you can surf around and look at stuff. Really neat, but is kind of annoying sometimes (trying to get clear pictures of stuff outside the US). Some areas you can zoom in really far, like for instance:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...1305/house.jpg

this is my house, and the picture is at least 8 months old because that brown blob in the driveway is my mom's old minivan! [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img]

here's another cool example for all you people who live near the great lakes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../gl_normal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../gl_winter.jpg

here is the website where you can download it (FREE, its made by NASA): http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/index.html (it's a big install, 173 MB, make sure to leave your computer on overnight if you have dial up. it took me about an hour to download but i have DSL)

it takes a while to get used to the controls and different maps. It also has 3-D rendering (topography) and you can look at older images of natural events (e.g. volcano eruptions, hurricanes, fires, etc). Good stuff! I use it to pass the time when I have nothing to do.

[ April 06, 2005, 03:07 AM: Message edited by: mike h ]

[sac2165]

How'd you get such clear images??? I can hardly make out large roads???

[mike h]

You have to switch between the different map options on the top. The three different "LandSat7"'s are for seeing other countries (they aren't high res) or for bigger images. Then there is the "1m Ortho", it's accurate to one meter but is black and white and since it says "USGS" its for the US only. then the Urban Ortho, which shows certain big city areas in high res. The house pic is using urban ortho, I got lucky and my city was in high res. [img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img]

Also before you download this, your computer better be fricking good! I have a 2.7 P4 with 786 MB of ram and when I use worldwind with any other programs in the background it bogs the computer down BAD.

Mount St. Helens!

[JusFlyinBy]

Or, you can go here for pretty decent pictures of places in the U.S.

http://maps.google.com/

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