NASA WorldWind
Developer(s) | Ames Research Center (NASA) |
---|---|
Initial release | 2003 |
Repository | |
Written in | JavaScript (Web), Java (Android, Desktop Java SE, and Server), C# (obsolete Windows/.NET) |
Operating system | Cross-platform; see above |
Available in | English |
Type | Virtual globe software development kit |
License | NASA Open Source Agreement v1.3 |
Website | worldwind |
NASA WorldWind is an open-source (released under the NOSA license and the Apache 2.0 license) virtual globe. According to the website (https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/), "WorldWind is an open source virtual globe API. WorldWind allows developers to quickly and easily create interactive visualizations of 3D globe, map and geographical information. Organizations around the world use WorldWind to monitor weather patterns, visualize cities and terrain, track vehicle movement, analyze geospatial data and educate humanity about the Earth." It was first developed by NASA in 2003 for use on personal computers and then further developed in concert with the open source community since 2004. As of 2017,[update] a web-based version of WorldWind is available online.[1] An Android version is also available.[2]
The original version relied on
Overview
Though widely available since 2003, WorldWind was released with the NASA Open Source Agreement license in 2004. The latest Java-based version (2.1.0), was released in December 2016.[4] As of 2015 a web based version of WorldWind is under development[5] and available online.[6] An Android version is also available.[7]
The previous .NET-based version was an application with an extensive suite of plugins. Apart from the Earth there are several worlds: Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter (with the four Galilean moons of Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto) and SDSS (imagery of stars and galaxies).
Users could interact with the selected planet by rotating it, tilting the view, and zooming in and out. Five million place names, political boundaries, latitude/longitude lines, and other data can be displayed. WorldWind.NET provided the ability to browse maps and
Other features of WorldWind.NET included support for .X (
The resolution inside the US is high enough to clearly discern individual buildings, houses, cars (USGS Digital Ortho layer) and even the shadows of people (metropolitan areas in USGS Urban Ortho layer). The resolution outside the US is at least 15 meters per pixel.
WorldWind uses digital elevation model (DEM) data collected by NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), National Elevation Dataset (NED) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). This means one can view topographic features such as the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest in three dimensions. In addition, WW has bathymetry data which allows users to see ocean features, such as trenches and ridges, in 3D.
Many people using the applications are adding their own data and are making them available through various sources, such as the WorldWind Central or blogs mentioned in the link section below.
All images and movies created with WorldWind using Blue Marble, Landsat, or USGS public domain data can be freely modified, re-distributed, and used on web sites, even for commercial purposes.
Add-ons and plugins
WorldWind can be expanded by using one of many add-ons - small extensions that add new functionality to the program.
Possible types of add-ons:
- Point layers: simple XML files displaying placemarks (point of interest) as icons
- Trail layers: paths (routes, boundaries)
- Line features: XML with a list of points visualized as a line or wall
- Polygon features: XML with a list of points visualized as a filled polygon (flat or extruded)
- Model features: XML used to load 3D textured meshes
- Place names: specific points (such as cities, hills and buildings) that are assigned text labels
- Image layers: high resolution imagery for various places in the world
- Scripts: files that control camera movement
Plugins are small programs written in
WorldWind Java
The original recipe for WorldWind was restricted to Windows, relying on the
referred to as WorldWind Java. The latest version (2.2.0) was released in August 2020.This new version has an API-centric architecture with functionalities 'off-loaded' to modular components, leaving the API at the core. This makes WorldWind itself a plugin, so that it can be used as interchangeably as possible (for example via Python). This refactoring exercise allows WorldWind to be accessed via a browser as a Java Applet. A preview of the WorldWind Java SDK[9] was released on May 11, 2007 during Sun Microsystem's annual JavaOne conference.
Since WWj is an SDK, there is no single application; instead there are any number of applications using WWj, each with different functionalities, created by government agencies and commercial developers from around the world. These applications include simple virtual globe viewers, satellite tracker,
Android and the Web
NASA has since released WorldWind Android and Web WorldWind, two SDKs for the
Tutorials
- NASA WorldWind SDK Tutorial:[1] This Tutorial was developed by the Institute for Geoinformatics from the Linked Open Datageographic datasets. It contains important tips from beginners to advanced developers.
Forks and clones
- WorldWind EarthNPM.
- Geoforge project[11] contains a fork of the NASA WorldWind project. Geoforge provides open source software. It leads in a platform[12] that manages geosciences data and uses WorldWind features to provide a display of geo-localised geosciences objects.
- Dapplegeoscience professionals, and has features aimed at them, such as easy addition of WMS servers and a simpler UIvery similar to Google Earth's.
- SERVIR-VIZ[14] is a customized version of WorldWind developed by IAGT for the SERVIR project.
- WW2DSolaris on SPARC. WW2D uses images from WorldWind's servers.
- WW2D Plus One - an update to WW2D providing a 3D view.
- Punt was a free software communitywho had made contributions to WorldWind. Punt was based on the code in WorldWind 1.3.2, but its initial release has features not found in WorldWind 1.3.2 or 1.3.3 (such as support for multiple languages). Currently, Punt is only available for Windows, but long-term goals include a desire to move to a cross-platform solution.
Datasets available
Low resolution Blue Marble datasets are included with the initial
Earth
Animated data layers
- Scientific Visualization Studio
- MODIS
- GLOBE[16]
- NRL Real-Time Weather
Image/terrain datasets
- Blue Marble Next Generation imagery
- Landsat 7 imagery
- NLT Landsat (PseudoColor)
- Geocover1990 & 2000 (pseudo; 1990 layer was produced from Landsat 4 & 5 images)
- OnEarth (visible & pseudo)
- i-cubed (visible)
- NLT Landsat (
- USGS imagery
- Digital Ortho (DOQ - scanned black and white aerial image)s[17]
- Urban Area Ortho (montaged color aerial photography of many major US metropolitan areas)
- Topographic maps
- Zoomit! imagery (community produced layer)
- SRTM (SRTM30Plus[20]/SRTMv2/USGS NED) terrain data (includes bathymetry)
Extraterrestrial datasets
Moon
- Clementine(40xx - Colour, 30xx - Greyscale)
- Hypsometric Map
Mars
- MOC (Mars Global Surveyor – Mars Orbiter Camera)
- MOLA (MGS – Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter hypsometric map)
- THEMIS (Mars Odyssey – Thermal Emission Imaging System)
- MDIM (Viking – Mars Digital Image Model)
Venus
- MagellanImaging Radar (color and grayscale)
- Hypsometric Map
Jupiter
- Jupiter
- Callisto
- Europa
- Ganymede
- Io
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Survey Imagery
Footprint Imagery
- SDSS Footprint
- FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm)[21] Footprint
Specifications
Baseline resolutions
- 500 m (Blue Marble Next Generation)
- 15 m (Landsat imagery; except for polar areas)
Typical high resolutions
- U.S.
- New Zealand
- Zoomit! (from LINZ data): 2.5 m (color and grayscale)
- Western Australia
- Zoomit! (from GSWA): 250K surface geology mosaic, 250K topographic data, Magnetic Intensity, Bouger Gravity
- South Africa
- Zoomit!: Spot5 10 m[24] (colour near full coverage), Robben Island 0.5 m, Johannesburg 2.5 m
Altitude resolution
- U.S.: 30 m (1 arcsecond; USGS NED)
- Global: 90 m (3 arcseconds; SRTM)
- Oceans: 2 arcminutesand better
Age
- Some USGS aerial images were taken in the early 1990s.
- Landsat 7 images are all taken after 1999 (except for Geocover 1990).
See also
References
- ^ "World Wind Explorer". explorer.worldwind.earth.
- ^ "WorldWindAndroid github repository". GitHub. 15 May 2020.
- ^ "Software of the Year Award, WorldWind Java". nasa.gov. December 24, 2009. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013.
- ^ "v2.1.0". GitHub. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "NASA WorldWind in JavaScript for HTML5". GitHub. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ Schubert, Bruce. "World Wind Explorer". explorer.worldwind.earth.
- ^ "NASAWorldWind/WorldWindAndroid". GitHub. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "Virtual Earth". worldwindcentral.com.
- ^ "Demos". goworldwind.org. Archived from the original on 2011-10-16. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ "WorldWind Earth". WorldWind Earth. GitHub Pages.
- ^ Geoforge project. "Geoforge - home". geoforge.org.
- ^ Geoforge project. "Geoforge - software platform". geoforge.org.
- ^ "Dapple Earth Explorer: Map and View the Earth". geosoft.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-13.
- ^ "Downloads - IAGT, The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, Auburn, New York". iagt.org. Archived from the original on 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ WW2D on SourceForge
- ^ "GLOBE". worldwindcentral.com.
- ^ "Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center | U.S. Geological Survey".
- ^ "Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)".
- ^ "Department of Industry and Resources - Geological Survey of Western Australia". Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
- ^ David Sandwell. "Satellite Geodesy, IGPP, SIO, UCSD - Global Topography - SRTM30, Multibeam, & predicted". ucsd.edu.
- ^ "The VLA FIRST Survey". stsci.edu.
- ^ "USGS Urban Areas". worldwindcentral.com.
- ^ "Add-on:ZoomIt!". worldwindcentral.com.
- ^ "Spot5 Imagery". madmappers.com.
External links
- Official website
- NASA Web WorldWind
- NASA WorldWind Java
- https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/android/get-started/
- https://jitpack.io/p/NASAWorldWind/WorldWindAndroid
- https://github.com/WorldWindEarth/WorldWindJava/blob/develop/README.md
- https://github.com/WorldWindEarth/WorldWindJava/wiki
- WorldWind Android "Community Edition" SDK
- NASA WorldWind.NET (legacy) at SourceForge
- worldwind.earth, personal projects of Bruce Schubert, a software engineer on the NASA WorldWind team