NASA Releases World Viewer

Klatoo55 writes "Nasa has released a comprehensive world viewing tool that allows you to zoom from planetary resolution down to where you can pick out individual streets. Really cool, but it needs a good internet connection and a decent graphics card. There's all sorts of interesting features, such as the ability to tilt your view for a flight-sim like experience and a data display feature that shows current natural disasters, political boundaries, weather patterns, and landmarks on the Earth's surface, all while providing a dynamic satellite's eye view of the planet."

Amazing...

[jhtrih]

This is cool. I can see my house! Now if my neighbor had been sunbathing at the time...

Already slow

[networkBoy]

I ran to check out the sit and it is Cooooool, but Nasa's gonna have an astronimical bandwith bill today :)
-nB

Bastards...

[raider_red]

There's no Linux or Mac version. This means I'll actually have to pull the damn windows box out of the closet I stashed it in.

WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[dijjnn]

that's just cool.

Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can finally see the world outside of my Mother's basement!!!!

259M download!

[waynegoode]

This looks cool, but the download is 259M! Server should be slashdotted soon. How about setting a torrent someone? (That is, someone who is not behind a firewall on a work computer.)

NSA

[delirium of disorder]

I wonder if NASA made a version of this for the NSA with ummmm a bit higher resolution.

Can we..

[segfault7375]

Will we be able to zoom in on the smoking ruins of the slashdotted webserver? :)

Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

Really cool, but it needs a good internet connection

Are you talking about me or their server?

Re:Amazing...

[grub]

Now if my neighbor had been sunbathing at the time...

...you'd be checking out his package?

Re:A threat to our security?

[hey]

Sorry I don't believe you really work at homeland security and are first posting. But your other comments seem possible to me.

Don't be so proud of your technological terror...

[weeboo0104]

The power to view a planet is insignificant next to the power of a slashdotting.

Just like enemy of the state

[grifter7]

Now you can play "enemy of the state" at home, without having to retask satellites on your own.

Re:WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[AndroidCat]

Are you sure? Has anyone checked to see if the dolphins are still around or large slab-like somethings are hanging in the sky very much unlike bricks?

BEWARE - Way too proprietary!

[Anonymous Coward]

It currently only works with ONE planet!

Re:Bastards...

[napa1m]

Don't lie. I'm using it right now on my Windows box and I can see into your closet, there's nothing in there but skeletons and that 'touchy' uncle!

-- ^nA
the CREATURES, they live! [creaturesinmyhead.com]

Time Lapse mixups

[coronaride]

Due to the latency with which the images are updated, this can pose some awkward situations. Imagine a geek looking at their neighborhood, noticing a beautiful nude sunbather next door. Geek runs outside to peek through a knot-hole in the fence to discover that the sunbather has aged 50 years since the last time that the picture was updated...ewww.

Re:The big question....

[Tony Hoyle]

You really think there's anything secret in Area 51? The whole planet knows where it is.... hardly the best place to keep secrets.

Area 52, on the other hand...

Re:BEWARE - Way too proprietary!

[Anonymous Coward]

Suits me fine. I really don't care to see Uranus.

Google Mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

Here you go. [alltooflat.com]

Tremendous graphics!

[suicidedoll]

I wonder what engine the builder used to design that world? It's pretty fantastic! And the level design, simply AMAZING!

Re:Can we..

[Tackhead]

> Will we be able to zoom in on the smoking ruins of the slashdotted webserver? :)

With a 259MB download, you won't need to zoom in. You'll be able to see the crater from orbit. Heck, you'll probably be able to see the crater from the surface of the moon.

Great! When can I get live data?

[DigitalRaptor]

The elk hunt starts in 2 1/2 weeks, I look forward to the day I can bring my laptop and use a live feed to track the elk herd... :}

I know, I know, it will never happen, but a guy can dream.

Maybe this is a good problem for an aerial kite camera solution

Re:Commercial site (free usage)

[tbase]

but then how often do streets and house move/change physcially?

You don't live in Florida, do you? :-)

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[Azghoul]

For a..... web site??

Re:Amazing...

[hsteck_ylf]

too bad we crashed nasa's webserver in under 20 minutes :)

I'm puzzled

[AndroidCat]

Why is it so slow if the program is a C#/.NET Win app that uses DirectX? Surely no one on Slashdot is using that configuration. We're all Linux or BSD and OpenGL, right? ;)

Re:A threat to our security?

[lukewarmfusion]

Actually, the government erected huge white platforms above parts of the city to obscure the stuff that satellites were seeing. It blocked out the sun and all the plants died. They realized it was a bad idea, took the platforms down, and just used Paintbrush to erase the parts they didn't like.

area-51 not there

[shlepp]

uhh, ok so they give u access to this shit but i cant fricken zoom down on area 51, all it is is desert, kinda ripoff that i cant see secret government installations.

Obligatory:

[RobertB-DC]

Only problem is that some of the images are a couple years old... but then how often do streets and house move/change physcially?

I live in a mobile home [palmharbor.com], YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!

Oh my god

[nanojath]

We just slashdotted the World.

Abolish Nasa!

[eBayDoug]

If Kerry would Abolish NASA, I would vote for him.

Re:Bastards...

[raider_red]

It is a shameful secret. That's why the box is kept in the closet.

How long before Tom Ridge kills this?

[clickster]

Tom: "Terrorists could use this to pinpoint places to strike." Powell: "Tom, I have a Hammond Street Guide to Washington D.C. in my back seat that they could use for that. Let's be realis..." Tom: "George, Dick, how in the hell did he get out of the basement? Agents Smith and Johnson, please escort Mr. Powell back to his cell. And get the CEO of Hammond on the phone." News Reporter: "Quickie Marts all over the country were raided by the FBI today in a massive crackdown on the selling of maps. Store clerks were rounded up and shipped to Guantanamo to possibly face charges of providing material aid to terrorists...or was that tourists. Either way, if they're ever actually charged, I'm sure the secret tribunal will execute justice...or was that Lady Justice...to the fullest extent possible."

Re:BEWARE - Way too proprietary!

[Anonymous Coward]

must ... resist ... goats ... cx .... link ....

Re:I'm puzzled

[Kehvarl]

You're thinking of our home machines, but our work machines run the winapps just fine without any not-an-emulator emulators.

Re:Area 51

[se2schul]

No, I can only find Area 51A.

Re:A threat to our security?

[gnu-generation-one]

"If you take a look at these aerial views of DC you can see how the federal government had the overhead views of the whitehouse and the capitol removed (or blocked)"

When the MI5 building was used in a Bond film, someone mentioned that MI5 were worried about the security implications.

To quote: "they feared that filming might reveal the location of one of London's most distinctive landmarks"

It seems obvious that removing the White House from maps is good for security - after all, if nobody knows it's there, they can't attack it?

Re:Can we..

[pete-classic]

You'll be able to see the crater from orbit. Heck, you'll probably be able to see the crater from the surface of the moon.

I remember back when the moon was in orbit. Man, those were the days.

-Peter

Re:Commercial site (free usage)

[pixelpusher220]

how often do streets and house move/change physcially?

Ask the residents of Florida....

Re:Amazing...

[Shakrai]

You know thats quite some achievement.. ;) .. Usually nasa servers can take large amounts of load ..

Maybe they calculated the load using the Metric system while /. uses the American system...

Just a thought ;)

Re:NSA

[TheClassic]

"I have a feeling that they can count the fucking hairs on your nut sack with the technology they have now-a-days."

One of the many reasons I wear pants.

Re:Amazing...

[Caseyscrib]

Now if my neighbor had been sunbathing at the time...

...you'd be checking out his package?

On the computer of course. Sunlight is detremental to a nerd's health.

NASA has surrendered!

[hsteck_ylf]

We are sorry but the slashdoting of a 250MB file was a bit more than we had planned for. We will re-post this file later in the day or this evening once the initial rush cools off. Thank you for your patience.

Nothing can stop us! :) Even NASA had to bow down to the massive power that is slashdot...

"Hello, World!"

[johnthorensen]

So this is what you get when you put a bunch of rocket scientists together and tell them to write a "Hello, World?" app?

-JT

Re:It certainly must be comprehensive...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a link to studies that support the parent's implications, but this comment box is too small to contain it. If the parent's poster sounds like a retard because of this blatent lack of evidence, that's why. The fact that this individual actually is a retard is completely coincidental.