World Wind

My friend, this Internet is. It is a friend when the world is going crazy in front of my eyes, when distraction is the only way I can forget the thorns in my side, both the figurative and the actual, it is my friend when my inquiring mind flails about for the new and the extrordinary.

This morning Lockergnomie, Chris Pirillo, has found it for me and it is truly amazing. I subscribe to Lockergnome Tech News Watch and Lockergnome's Windows Fanatics. He has other topics, but being pragmatic about myself, they might pile up in my inbox, unread.

World Wind is served up by the folks at NASA. I down loaded it and the first thing I did was to control the world by spinning it around to get my bearings and yes, Finland is northeast of us. Here is what he Pirillo says about World Wind:

Topographical
11:13PM (PST) on February 25, 2005
As Robert so eloquently put it, this thing is amazing. We heard about NASA's free World Wind application tonight on .NET Rocks. The sucker weighs in at ~180MB, but it's worth every byte (and then some) - completely putting Google's Keyhole to shame. Imagine having the ultimate 3D mapping system sitting on your desktop... and then see it." World Wind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM elevation data to experience Earth in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there." I know that Ponzi will appreciate the topographical features, as that's what she's been wanting in a consumer-oriented mapping system for some time. I use Google Maps because it's quick, Microsoft Streets & Trips when I want to explore local resources, and... World Wind for a bird's eye view of the globe. You don't need to be into GIS or anything - this digital mapping system is quite accessible. Topo maps, satellite photos, free download - what's not to like?

Indeed, what is not to like? This can undoubtedly distract me for hours, days, weeks. Thanks.