Cool new download from NASA

“I just found out about a download at NASA , heres some info I got from Slashdot news on it.

"Nasa has 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."

Here is the NASA link to the website (not the download). WARNING, it's a rather large download, 250 MB. I'm downloading it now and will give a review after I get to play with it awhile.

More info and discussion can be found here
last edited: 10/09/04 2:37:08 AM”

“Check out this image!

I may be wrong, but it seems clearer and more detailed then the stuff from TerraServer.
last edited: 10/09/04 2:45:38 AM”

“* 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”

“Hey steve, that sounds similar to Keyhole, which has pretty high res images all around the world. Well, it varies, depending on where you are looking. I noticed recently that Terraserver has added "urban detail" (or something) images. I'm doing a project in San Francisco (I'm a traffic engineering consultant), and the detail in the City is easily good enough to determine number of traffic lanes, number of parking lot spaces, etc. It's also in color....”

“Pretty Zippy! {G} Thanks for the heads-up.”

“Man this is cool, it's like having a map program for almost anywhere you can imagine, along with toys that look like they came from CSI, or NASA...lol

You can set it to look for events all over the world, storms, volcano's, fires...you name it, in real time...then zoom in close enough to see individual streets. The LandSat 7 site is down, it seems too many people are trying to access it.

This thing is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!

Word of caution, it needs lots of horsepower and if you don't have a cable/DSL line or something equivalent, don't even try.

I will post some screen shots tonight.

Man, this is addicting, worse then games. I'll be up all night.”

“OK, I can't stop myself...here are some pictures of what it can do, and these are only a tiny part...

Screen Shots”

“I just clicked on the web site. Too many users. Have to try later.”

“it's FRIGGIN HUGE..i had to plug in my external harddrive..said it needed 650mb..i can't figure out alot of it yet..it looks fuzzy when i zoom”

“The LandSat 7 site is down right now...zoom in on your favorite hiking ares After you click on the USGS topo button on the upper right....you can also get USGS1m to download by hitting that button.”

“Here's a sample of what you can get on Terraserver now (it's my neighborhood).”

“I had a feeling that World Wind was using Terraserver for much of their downloads.

On WW, I like how you can just scroll your way to zoom in. The 3D effects are pretty cool too. I have been playing with the vertical exaggeration and rotate and pan controls....way cool.

I hope they get LandSat7 up again soon.”