World Wind allows users to zoom from satellite altitude down to any place on Earth, leveraging high-resolution LandSat imagery and SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) elevation data to experience Earth in visually rich 3D. In addition to Earth, World Wind can also visualize other planets, and there are already comprehensive data sets for Mars and the Earth's moon, which are as easily accessible as those of Earth.

There have been more than 20 million downloads to date, and the software is being used heavily by the Department of Defense due to the code's ability to be extended and the evolution of the code courtesy of NASA and the user community. Primary features include the dynamic access to public domain imagery and its ease of use. All one needs to control World Wind is a two button mouse. Additional guides and features can be accessed through a simplified menu. A JAVA version will be available soon. Navigation is automated with single clicks of a mouse, or by typing in any location to automatically zoom in to see it.

The World Wind install package contains the necessary requirements such as the .NET runtime and managed DirectX library. World Wind can display combinations of data from a variety of sources, including Blue Marble, LandSat 7, SRTM, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio, GLOBE, and much more. A thorough list of features, the user manual, a key chart, and screen shots are available at http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov .

This program was written by Patrick Hogan of Ames Research Center, Christopher Maxwell and Randolph Kim of National Space Grant Foundation, and Tom Gaskins. For further information, access http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/  or contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Division at (650) 604-2954. ARC-15166-1.