I think Google’s Google Earth is an amazing tool. I mean, being able to view any point on the globe like you’re flying over it is captivatingly cool. I’ve used it a few times to map out the route to a customer meeting ahead of time. The only problem with Google Earth is that it has no Linux client. Sure, you can run it under WINE, but its buggy: the screens make you dizzy and the menus don’t draw.
NASA has a lot of satellite imagery in its collection, so naturally they built their own mapping project called World Wind. World Wind offers access to all of NASA’s high-quality imagery, including all the data from the shuttle’s Topography Mission. The result is a rich, 3D view of the world.
Still, World Wind does not in itself offer a Linux client so an enterprising Russian hacker named Vitaliy Pronkin made his own WW2D is a free and open source, Java-based client to NASA’s World Wind data.
World Wind’s detail rivals Google Earth’s, though the WW2D client doesn’t offer 3D views (NASA’s version for Windows does). Still, its great to see that the Linux community now has a place to play with maps.
For more information:
News Forge article on World Wind
NASA World Wind
World Wind FAQ
WW2D – a Java World Wind Client