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NASA World Wind 1.4 Released With Trailer

Bull_UK writes "As many of you probably already know NASA had to shift it's priorities to the upcoming Java version of World Wind, leaving 1.4 effectively orphaned, but the Open Source community came together and with a lot of hard work we were able to finish what Chris Maxwell started. Some of the new things which differentiate the new World Wind from the competition are the amazing new visual effects, including HDR, check out the video for some examples. Remember this virtual globe has never had the same goals as Google Earth, if you just want to see your house stick with GE, although many areas have high resolution as good and sometimes better than GE. World Wind is aimed at education and science, all the default imagery is copyright free, you don't need to purchase a license to redistribute the imagery and there are no pro or expert versions to buy, you can happily use World Wind at work or school without fear of any lawyers confiscating your research."

11 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:PC only? by the+linux+geek · · Score: 4, Informative

    No. World Wind is based on the .NET framework, so you might have some success with Mono, but no native Mac or Linux version is available at this time.

  2. Re:PC only? by MaggieL · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is there a Mac of Linux version available or are we left out in the cold?

    That would appear to be one reason that (as the OP said) NASA is moving to World Wind Java.

    --
    -=Maggie Leber=-
  3. Re:PC only? by miscz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Windows only. It's using .Net and DirectX so I wouldn't expect port anytime soon.

    offtopic:
    Jesus fuck, PC stands for personal computer, not Windows (hint: Apple commercials lie)

    Signed: Concerned PC with GNU/Linux operating system user

  4. Re:PC only? by skoaldipper · · Score: 3, Informative

    I too wanted this juicy bit for my linux machine. I found something related but haven't tried it yet. It says it supports NASA WW data sets.

    --
    I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
  5. World Wind Java by AnswerIs42 · · Score: 4, Informative
    World Wind Java (1.5) will come out for public beta before the JavaOne conference in May. Closed alpha testing and bug fixing will be starting in the next few weeks.

    The windows version (.net 2.0) is primarily being supported by the open source community since the funding and direction for the NASA World Wind team is towards the Java version.

    the community does welcome anyone that wants to come in and help at working the code, DX developers would help a lot to get some of the features hammered out more smoothly.

  6. Re:Hmm... by withak · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know about cool new features, but it opens up the field of developers quite a bit. Switching to .NET 2.0 means it compiles in the free Visual Studio Express now, and between VSexpress and C#, development (on the WW core, or just on plugins) is idiotproof that someone with little or no coding experience (me) could poke around and figure out enough about how stuff worked to be able to contribute.

  7. NASA World Wind vs Google Earth by Lord+Satri · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a NWW enthusiast, even if I never really used it on a regular basis... (I'm waiting for the Java version... I hope I won't be deceived).

    NASA World Wind sadly never had the media coverage GE had. This is kind of sad. People seems to forget, or ignore, that you can't use Google Earth in a work environment. Well, more precisely, you can't legally install the free version Google Earth in any work environment, not even the Plus version (20$US), you need the Pro (400$US) or the Enterprise version. Why am I underlining this? Because I believe this should have helped NASA World Wind to capture mind share. Should, because not a lot of people care about that fact and Google will not enforce this, since they benefit from the number of people using it, a little like Microsoft did not care about Windows being copied some centuries ago. Oh, this change in the license came with version 4 of the GE beta, launched last summer.

    Here's the interesting Google Earth vs NASA World Wind comparison, on the WW Central website.

  8. Virtual Earth high resolution imagery in NASA WW by Lord+Satri · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can't see high resolution imagery in NASA World Wind? Well, you can with this great plugin. It allows you to use Microsoft Virtual Earth high rez imagery directly in NASA World Wind. If you wonder, yes, Microsoft agreed to this.

  9. Re:So -- what GIS frameworks? by withak · · Score: 2, Informative

    It has WMS and some simple WFS support. There have been a few plugins made using proj.4, and the imagery you see in WW was reporjected and processed into tile using FWTools. We welcome contributions from those willing to work on expanding such things. :)

  10. Re:What is Java version using in place of DX-9 by 5of0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's using Java+JOGL, so the answer to your question would be JOGL. And no, it's not translated to DX9 on windows, but the .NET version is a better bet in the immediate future on Windows.

    --
    You all have Oo.o and Firefox, so get World Wind.
  11. Re:Too true by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Informative

    When you grab a point on the globe - you start the globe spinning, rather than as in GE grabbing a 'handle' to position the map.

    Wrong. Clicking on a point will move to that location, but dragging works just like it does in GE.

    To put it simply - bullshit. When I click and drag in GE, it stops when I release the mouse. When I click and drag in WW it continues to drift.
     

    When you zoom in - WW loads each and every layer of zoom between the one you start with and where you end up.

    Which is also exactly what GE does. Google can just afford faster servers.

    Wrong. GE does not render each and every layer - let alone load them. WW does.