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...

Re:Amazing...

[grub]

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

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

Re:Amazing...

[StevenHenderson]

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

...then you would have two avenues for self-pleasure using the computer.

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:Amazing...

[quizwedge]

Funny, all I see is "The operation timed out when attempting to contact learn.arc.nasa.gov"

Re:Amazing...

[hsteck_ylf]

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

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:NASA has surrendered!

[steve_bryan]

Just go to Suprnova.org and look for the torrent file. That is how I managed to get WorldWind downloaded. Why does anyone bother with centrally configured downloads of large files? Set up a tracker and make the torrent file available and you get scalable download capability that increases as the demand gets larger.

I am a subscriber to Keyhole which is a much more powerful and accessible product. But to be fair it is not free. If you are intrigued by World Wind and would like to have a look at the real thin

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

Re:Already slow

[networkBoy]

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarb le/ [nasa.gov]
This site has some absolutely stunning still shots of earth. Available as several hundred K JPGs, 1-2 meg JPGs, and up to 30 meg TIFFs.
-nB

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? ;)

Geostationary Satellite Server

[ackthpt]

I've been watching the weather and all sorts of neat stuff on the NOAA GEOS [noaa.gov] site for years. Not great for spying on your city, but great animations for tracking weather and hurricanes

Re:Geostationary Satellite Server

[gr8_phk]

It says it includes the Blue Marble image. I have that on CD and it takes the full CD (2 TIFF files). What compression do they use with this one?

Re:Geostationary Satellite Server

[cyberassasin]

Another great site for satellite imagery is the Naval Research Lab - Monterey website:

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

Make sure you do full investigation of the site, there is so many features that I can't begin to list them. It is basically a clearing house for any imagery generated for forecasting. Tools to animate however you wish, etc. Seriously, spend some time to check it out....

Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[Mr Guy]

Recommended Specifications * Windows 2000, XP Home, or XP Professional * Intel Pentium 3 1 ghz or AMD Athlon or higher * 256 MB of RAM * 3D Graphics Card o nVidia GeForce 2 Ultra o ATI Radeon 7500 o Intel Extreme Graphics 2 * DSL / Cable connection or faster * 2 GB of disk space The requirements are a bit high, but the demo pictures they show are quite impressive. It does appear to be opensource, wonder how long it'll be before someone makes a Linux port, and ties to a newsfeed! Trouble in the Middle East? Lets take a look!

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[ObjetDart]

Those are hefty requirements? Just about any Windows box sold in the last 4 years would meet these requirements.

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[Azghoul]

For a..... web site??

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[stratjakt]

Hefty hardware? I could build that machine for about 200 bucks, brand new. And that includes a fancy pants Lian-Li case with window and lots of blinky lights.

This should probably run under WINE, the 3D requirements aren't that intense. In fact, it probably uses OpenGL.

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[Illissius]

It says it requires the .NET runtime and DX 9.0b, actually. Wonder whether it could be made to work with Mono...

Re:Takes a hefty chunk of hardware

[dasmegabyte]

Actually, that's pretty good. I run ArcView (map and dataset viewer) with data (land use, wetlands, zoning, USGS grid and gradients, orthoimagery, etc.) for JUST New York State on a similar machine. It uses 10 times the disk space and it's slowwwww. Of course, if this is just a picture viewer, it doesn't have to do all the projection correction across layers that ArcView does...nor does it need uncompressed TIF representations of everything.

And I'm wishing for an OS X port ;)

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.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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]

Re:Bastards...

[raider_red]

there's nothing in there but skeletons and that 'touchy' uncle!

That's not true. I evicted my uncle almost two months ago.

Re:Bastards...

[stratjakt]

They released the source, so get to work porting it and quit whining.

Re:Bastards...

[raider_red]

I've got to get home first. The way things are going around the office today, that's not going to happen. (Oh, and we use all Sun and Linux boxes here, so I can't even run it at the office.)

Re:Bastards...

[raider_red]

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

Chalk another one up for Neil Stepehenson.

[SuiteSisterMary]

"YOU ARE HERE."

WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[dijjnn]

that's just cool.

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?

Re:WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[McFly69]

I know this is off topic but food for thought. If we can ./ a massive website like Nasa, I wonder what affect we will have on election day if we ./ georgewbush.com [georgewbush.com] and johnkerry.com [johnkerry.com]?

Re:WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[joeljkp]

I worked at NASA last semester. Judging by the URL, this isn't NASA's main cluster of servers (note that nasa.gov [nasa.gov] loads briskly). This is probably just some SGI in a server closet in whatever building this was made in at Ames.

Re:WE SLASHDOTTED NASA

[Skye16]

We really need to get "slashdotted" entered into the Oxford dictionary. Seriously, if "bling-bling" can make its way in, at least something practical AND unobnoxious should get in easily.

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.)

Re:259M download!

[Stevyn]

Or anyone who can open ports 6881-6889 on their firewall.

Re:259M download!

[TedCheshireAcad]

yes [rit.edu]

its a public torrent, a little poky right now.

Re:259M download!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://centraldownload.mine.nu/download.php?id=110 6&hit=1&file=worldwind.torrent [centraldownload.mine.nu] Here is the torrent. It is slow to start but is getting faster with more people.

A free version of Keyhole?

[Andorion]

I had a subscription to Keyhole World Viewer [keyhole.com] for a while, it's the same type of thing with a shnazzy interface and features. You can download it for a free trial at their site, I haven't tried the NASA one so I don't know how it compares.

~Berj

Re:A free version of Keyhole?

[MustEatYemen]

Keyhole has several features Earth Sphere in 3d 3d terrain data Street level details of many highly populated areas of the US. Overlays of Roads/Rails/Water ways Overlays of resturrants/lodging/gas stations It's not limited to just the US, it has data of many locations of the world. The downsides i see to keyhole are needing a fat pipe (like the nasa client), widly varying levels of detail, especially outside the US. My car would love this if it didn't need a broadband internet connection, and could store

Re:A free version of Keyhole?

[bentfork]

Nope, it is a 3d accelerated GIS viewer.

They have a huge amount of data in varried resolution. Most of it is available from multiple sources for free; however they have it all in one spot and all converted for their program.

What makes it truly great is the ability to add your own overlays directly over top of its data. Quite a spectacular product.

If you have it give this a try take a image of vegitaion [A] and overlay it over Iraq with at 30% transparency. Add a overlay that with the sunni / sheite population densities [B] and do the same.

KaPow! Data in context. Quite amazing really.

[A] vegetation [reliefweb.int] will require some cutting and pasting... but the images you have w/ key hole are pretty good
[B] Religious groups [globalsecurity.org]

If you want to check them out they are here:
earthviewer

[ I dont' work for them, but I would ;) ]

Re:A free version of Keyhole?

[John Jorsett]

I use Keyhole and it has a geographical bookmark feature, at least as I understand the concept. Also, the newest version has finally added display of coordinates, which I've wanted for years.

It certainly must be comprehensive...

[tcopeland]

...since it's a 259 MB download.

What a perfect (and missed) opportunity for NASA to use BitTorrent [bittorrent.com] instead of a huge zip file. Ah well.

The initial download is NOTHING

[imsabbel]

Its not 260 MB, but 2000 GB+ mapdata. It downloads new map parts on the fly while browsing, and in the few hours i used it i have now already more than 500MB in my cache folder...

Re:Hosting a torrent

[wscott]

How about this one:

http://centraldownload.mine.nu/download.php?id=110 6&hit=1&file=worldwind.torrent [centraldownload.mine.nu]

(I didn't make the torrent, but I did post the link. ;-)

NSA

[delirium of disorder]

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

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.

Can we..

[segfault7375]

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

Re:Can we..

[Henk Poley]

Try this link, it seems to work:
http://learn.arc.nasa.gov.nyud.net:8090/worldwind/ features.html [nyud.net]

And a 'direct' download link

[Henk Poley]

http://freecache.org/http://opensource.arc.nasa.go v/archives/worldwind-1_2.zip [freecache.org]
Also cached of course.

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.

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

Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

Really cool, but it needs a good internet connection

Are you talking about me or their server?

C# And DirectX...

[malakai]

Pretty cool stuff. The developer says the core will compile on Mono, but obviously there isn't DX for Mono.

Maybe someone can think about a Manged-DX style wrapper around OpenGL for the Mono Project.

Can't think it would be easy though. DX does a lot for you.

The source is supposed to be placed on SourceForge soon. Should be a fun project to hack on.

Re:C# And DirectX...

[stratjakt]

Can mono access the DX layer in Wine?

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.

Is there anything that man can't do?!!!!

[Thud457]

Wil Smith is a thespian god!!!!

slashdotted straight off the map!

[192939495969798999]

That site is DOWN, brother! Boy, I can't even imagine a more /.-able topic than a world zoom tool like that, and we shot them down in a blaze of glory. I would bet the astronauts can see the plume of smoke coming from the server in space. We could probably see it on the map too, if it weren't fried into oblivion.

Anyone have a dupe? I guess I could just go outside and see the world for myself... nah!

Celestia

[Milo Fungus]

For those of you who like this sort of software, check out Celestia [shatters.net]. It is a 3D space simulator, and lets you visit objects in our solar system and a bunch of stars. It's really amazing, and it's open source! My sister uses it for teaching astronomy to the neighborhood kids in their home-schooling class.

Re:Celestia

[Coryoth]

For those of you who like this sort of software, check out Celestia. It is a 3D space simulator, and lets you visit objects in our solar system and a bunch of stars. It's really amazing, and it's open source! My sister uses it for teaching astronomy to the neighborhood kids in their home-schooling class.

I was thinking of Celestia too, but more specifically, I was thinking that, as we speak, someone will be busy downloading and putting together new even higher detail virtual texture sets.

Celestia allowed

Locations of incidents...

[BrynM]

So will they add a burning server icon to the ones for fires and other disasters? From the looks of the site (first two pages then loading..........) they have one server to pinpoint already.

Big brother

[vijaya_chandra]

If the version released for the public itself is that comprehensive, think of the view of the big brother out there.

Hope my thick black hair and beard'd consume all the light rays and reflect nothing.

BEWARE - Way too proprietary!

[Anonymous Coward]

It currently only works with ONE planet!

Commercial site (free usage)

[McFly69]

Here is a commercial site [globexplorer.com] but you can use it for free with watermarks. You can zoom to a persons house. All you need to type in the address of the place. Pretty nice, check it out. Only problem is that some of the images are a couple years old... but then how often do streets and house move/change physcially?

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:Commercial site (free usage)

[Scutter]

Looks like they use at least some of the same USGS satellite pictures that Terraserver uses.

Re:Commercial site (free usage)

[McFly69]

FYI, you cna look at general images of cities of other countries also. They are not detailed on the street level but still usable to gee the geography of the region.

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!

Re:Commercial site (free usage)

[pixelpusher220]

how often do streets and house move/change physcially?

Ask the residents of Florida....

Similar Products

[carbolic]

Yesterday on The Screen Savers [g4techtv.com] they pointed out a for-pay satellite viewer that appears to do the same thing as this NASA viewer. Keyhole LT [keyhole.com] is a consumer-licensed viewer for about $40 and is a way smaller download with a free trial mode. The resolution is not spy-on-your-neighbors great. But you can see who has pools on your block and how many cars are parked in the driveway along with topography data and flyover modes.

For a high-res view but user-interface nightmare, GlobeXplorer [globexplorer.com] has free and subscription imagery online that incorporates aerial photography for less than 1 meter resolution (like way zoomed in.)

Of course, what roxorz is that the NASA prog is free. At least for now!

--
carbolic
WiFi-toys [wifi-toys.com]

Celestia and World Viewer

[cOdEgUru]

Hope someone would integrate this in to Celestia [shatters.net]or the other way around. Explore the deepest corners of the galaxy and be in your neighbourhood in a splitsecond.. Nice..

servers is down but

[jjshoe]

you can still download the program from here [nasa.gov]

Tremendous graphics!

[suicidedoll]

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

And did they need Goresat to make this?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Goresat was the mock name for a satellite that Al Gore pushed through NASA, despite the dubious science behind it and that Gore voted to reduce NASA budget more often than not. Its intention was to provide a live image of earth, I think from a Lagrange point.

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

Snow Crash reference

[perlchild]

Am I the only one who sees a Stephenson's Snow Crash reference in this?

Compare this to Terraserver, in real-world terms

[dpilot]

Can't RTFA, since it's Slashdotted.
Can't run the code, since my Win-machine at home is a dual-boot with only Win98SE.
Can't run it on my work laptop, since even though it's Win2k, it doesn't meet the other requirements.

Even if I could get to the web site, I don't know that the information is readily available there *and* on Terraserver to really compare the two.

I've found my house on Terraserver, though the image was several years old. The field wasn't that tight, and got a bit more than our whole neighbor

Similar to...

[Lazyhound]

...Keyhole [keyhole.com], I presume? I've played around with it before, but a free version is even better, I guess.

gnutella magnet

[havaloc]

magnet:?xt=urn:bitprint:NRXOGXXAMVAJWZUHY7W2A2UY7R BABIN4.IDTEAFQAH7Q76AIJ7RYFX7FIXFSYY4Y3XYEPTIA&dn= worldwind-1_2.zip
Be sure to remove slashcode spaces.

Lame!!!

[real gumby]

When will these government agencies learn to stick to their knitting?!?!?

Nasa is the "National Aeronautics and Space Administration." [nasa.gov] The surface of the earth is neither aeronautical nor space (duh, it's a surface).

Now if the Department of Homeland Security [dhs.gov] were offering this, I think it would make sense!

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.

Oh my god

[nanojath]

We just slashdotted the World.

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."

N. Korea?

[Fortress]

To anyone who managed to get the program before the site was slashdotted, could you take a look at North Korea along the Chinese border? Is the crater from the "mushroom cloud" explosion visible?

"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

BitTorrent to the rescue!

[Jaeger]

Until NASA's servers manage to recover from the demand, here's a Torrent [festing.org] for your downloading enjoyment.

City of Toronto has this

[myov]

Toronto has a GIS/Map feature [toronto.ca] on their web site, which includes Satellite maps (you need to zoom in first, then it will appear). The maps are from 2002, iirc.

For a desktop application

[alphakappa]

Check out Keyhole LT [keyhole.com]

Mirrors

[vorwerk]

FYI ... This is from their webpage [nasa.gov]:

We are online again the WorldWind application can be downloaded from the following mirrors:

BEST :

http://128.102.102.126:9080/mirror/worldwind-1_2 .z ip
http://128.102.102.129:9080/mirror/worldwind-1 _2.z ip
http://kiosk.arc.nasa.gov:8090/worldwind-1_2.z ip
http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/archivetmps/worldwind-1 _2.z ip

Nasa opened up a few more links

[reezle]

http://qtss.arc.nasa.gov/worldwind-1_2.zip [nasa.gov] is working at about 175k for me...

Open Source & Porting

[Bungopolis]

I emailed lead developer Randy Kim about the use of the proprietary DirectX library in World Wind, and the possibility of ports to Linux and other systems. Here is his response:

World Wind is still a new piece of software and we're still defining all the features that go into it. Afterwards, we would like to port it to as many platforms as possible but it is a matter of resources. We have only one main coder and pseudo-designer (myself). We're just interns! When steps start heading in that direction, we'll update our web site.

We started with a windows platform since that is where most of our audience is. It is our full intention to port World Wind. Meanwhile, we'll definitely invite the possibility of having the open source community help out with the porting.

Torrents in this post!

[Dodger73]

There seem to be two torrents currently online: http://66.90.75.92/suprnova//torrents/2658/worldwi nd.torrent http://www.planettrevor.net/worldwind-1_2.zip.torr ent

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.

Re:A threat to our security?

[Izago909]

Everything is a threat to national security. There are a half dozen other free websites that offer nearly the same services as this one. Soon, the EU will have its own version of GPS which can be accessed by the public. If someone really wants to kill others, they will find a way regardless. Has anyone noticed that most security implementations after the attacks tend to make people feel safer without making them truly safer? No security is better than a false sense of security; at least people would be on their toes instead of walking around oblivious.

Re:A threat to our security?

[slungsolow]

Any GIS type application is considered a threat to our national security. If you take a look at these aerial views of DC [dc.gov] you can see how the federal government had the overhead views of the whitehouse and the capitol removed (or blocked). The last thing the government wants is to be responsible for a terrorist act. They feel that tools like this are useful to the general public, so they make them available. At the same time, they can see the emminent threat, so they limit its capabilities.

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.

Re:A threat to our security?

[slungsolow]

Well, if you take a look at the maps you'll see that they removed a significant portion of the national mall to cover up the area that the whitehouse takes up. They definitely exceeded the boundries of the whitehouse grounds by a few hundred (or maybe thousand) feet.

If you were planning some kind of ground based attack you really wouldn't get any use from the map provided in the link above. Sure you'd get a general picture of where the whitehouse is located (its one of the white blobs for those who don'

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:Hmmmm?

[benchbri]

Nope, The terraserver is USGS aerial photography. This, however is GOES satellite data. Pretty cool, IMHO. I was on the Terraserver planning my trip last week to Centralia, Pennsylvania. [microsoft.com] Has had a coal fire burning underneath it for 40 years. Look at the street grids with no houses on them. And if you scroll 100 meters south of downtown, there's a giant steaming crater. It's a fun place. I'd love to fly through Centralia on this Nasa thing. Anybody know what the resolution is? I doubt it would be better t