NASA World Wind
NASA World Wind is an open source, free program developed by NASA. The software enables you to explore our planet using topographic maps, satellite imagery and images from other sources. The software also provides boundaries database, large place names. It uses images from the blue marble, LandSat7, USGS Topo maps. NASA World Wind can dynamically required data from the internet, however as a user you can download internet data whenever you need for offline usage and faster access.
When you install NASA World Wind you will see a fully interactive 3D globe on your monitor screen. Although the software program is on your pc, the images that you see are taken by satellites that are revolving around the Earth. To utilize this new amazing program, an active internet connection is a must.
Many ask what is the use of NASA World Wind? With World Wind, you as well as students can view static and archived images of any location that is on this planet at varying zoom levels and resolution. You will find that some images are black and white, while some are colored. Images can also be simple topographic maps. Students will find it more interesting if you supplement your geography chapters with interactive visuals of planet Earth. Using NASA World you can definitely make your geography lecture more appealing.
NASA World Wind is available for free and you can download it from its official website. The install file is around 60 MB in size. Once you download the software to your computer or copy from a storage device, you have to only run EXE file and then follow carefully the on screen instructions. Use default settings and you will have no problem in installing the software. The installation process may inform you that you need the recent version of “Direct X” software application.
Once you have installed Direct X, World Wind will guide you through set up process, when you run it for the first time on your computer. The software is indeed a great tool that you will simply love to use it. The software application does make use of bandwidth for loading images. That is why don't make use of it unless required during school hours. For most commands and moves within the software, the mouse is sufficient. You can also use the keyboard if you prefer to use this software application with key presses.
To begin with try left clicking, dragging and moving the mouse. A single left click and letting it go will move you automatically to that spot. You can also make use of arrow keys that are on your keyboard for moving to a particular spot. For rotating this 3D globe you have to right-drag-click and move the mouse. This action will spin the view around. However single right click doesn't work in this mode.
For zooming in and out, you can make use of the mouse wheel for scrolling up and down. If your mouse does not have a scroll wheel, then you should hold both right and left mouse buttons down simultaneously and then move down or up on the mouse.
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