Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Listing of Virtual Globes

* CitySurf Globe (still under developing )
* Nintendo Wii Weather Channel (December 2006)
* Microsoft VE (November 2006)
* Dapple Earth Explorer (July 2006)
* Wayfinder Earth (beta, 2006)
* 3D Weather Globe & Atlas by Software MacKiev (2005)
* ESRI ArcGIS Explorer (2005)
* Volvo Ocean Race Virtual Spectator (2005)
* Erdas Imagine Virtual GIS (2005)
* Google Earth (2005)
* Global-i (~2005)
* Punt (2005)
* Ping 3map (2005)
* EarthSLOT (2004)
* osgPlanet (2004)
* ESRI ArcGlobe (2003)
* NASA World Wind (2003)
* Eingana (2000 to ~2003)
* Keyhole Earthviewer (June 2001/now Google Earth)
* SINTEF Virtual Globe (2001/now Norkart Virtual Globe since 2006)
* Celestia (2001)
* Skyline Software TerraSuite (~2001)
* GeoFusion GeoPlayer (company formed 2001)
* SRI Terravision (2000)
* Lunar Software Earthbrowser (1998)
* Microsoft MapPoint Virtual Globe (1998 now Windows Live Local)
* Planet 9's VirtualEarth (1995)
* Mark Pesce's WebEarth (1995)
* Deutche Telekom's T-Vision (1995) (shown at Siggraph in August, not web based)
* Blue Marble's Talking Globe CD (2D)(1994)
* Hipparchus (~1992
* GeoVirtual GeoShow3D
* Viewtec TerrainView
* Gaia
* Virtual Spectator
* PYXIS
* Talent Cruiser
* Virtual Terrain Project
* Earthsim
* GeoVirtual
* GRIFINOR

posted by Alan Glennon at 3:09 PM

21 Comments:

  • Addition to your vitual globe listing: WW2D. There's a post on it at the ccablog (http://ccablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/ww2d.html)

    By Blogger CCAer, at November 09, 2005 3:25 AM  

  • Here is another addition to your list:

    Genesis MP:
    http://www.diamondvisionics.com/genesismp.htm

    By Anonymous Christian Maire, at February 02, 2006 7:42 AM  

  • How about? open source--->
    Virtual Terrain Project (http://www.vterrain.org)

    Plus, their webpage has descriptions of related issues and software.

    By Anonymous UCSB_Geog, at February 12, 2006 2:58 PM  

  • Someone developed a cool application for SGI workstations called "space" which had a virtual earth and space travel (very similar to Celestia today). I believe it came out in the late 80s, but was definitely out in 1991-92 time-frame.

    Once of it's coolest features was the implementation of the sci-fi "Ringworld" on a nearby star. An undocumented easter egg which I just happened upon one day. It even had auto-generated terrain and the shadow squares.

    By Anonymous Frank Taylor, at May 20, 2006 5:41 AM  

  • Another addition to the list. One of the pioneers of Direct3D has produced a virtual globe called Earthsim. www.earthsim.tv.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at July 10, 2006 11:34 AM  

  • The Earthsim page is located at the following link...

    Earthsim

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at July 10, 2006 11:38 AM  

  • We will be releasing our new product - PYXIS DGGS (discrete global grid system) - application by the end of the 2006. The unique Digital Earth Reference Model (DERM) underpinning PYXIS allows ALL spatial data to be conflated/fully integrated on-the-fly providing for a unique oportunity for sharing distributed spatial data.

    Our interest has been to solve the geographic integration problem and thus provide a scientifically valid geometry for on-the-fly data assembly, visualization, analysis and modeling. The work is being prototyped and piloted within the Canadian Military and the International Conservation Community. We support principles of the Conservation Commons.

    In the mean time, a sneak preview of our new Virtual Globe application can be found from our web site http://www.pyxisinnovation.com

    Feedback and comments at this early stage welcome.

    By Anonymous Perry R. Peterson, at July 22, 2006 7:30 AM  

  • Folks, I am trying to create a resource that actually combines all the different links to the various globe projects. Feel free to check it out and add links as you see fit.

    http://www.virtualglobes.org

    Thanks in advance!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 01, 2006 12:28 AM  

  • Happy to see other people interested by 3d digital earth softwares here.

    We often hear about GoogleEarth and Worldwind but it's nice to see alternative and promising outsiders projects going on...

    I especially like the www.earthsim.tv one, in terms of atmosphere effect and quality rendering, I think they are a bit in advance.

    Most of people are judging on level of detail because they like to see their house one the planet, but this one is aiming to show a higher cm/px precision by generating the data with shaders instead of just mapping sattelite images.

    It is built in a different and honourable purpose as well : showing the human impact on the ecosystem and teaching us how to protect this fragile balance allowing our planet to host life.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 01, 2006 12:39 AM  

  • And here is another:

    http://www.viewtec.ch/techdiv/terrainview_globe_e.html

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at December 12, 2006 10:36 AM  

  • I found this one by accident, and I was surprised that nobody noticed it:

    http://dapple.geosoft.com/

    It's an open source project btw.

    By Blogger Miguel Alonso, at January 20, 2007 5:24 PM  

  • I am trying to find a *template* or startup kit for the development of a virtual globe type application (a very simple application). Do you know of any ?

    thanks!

    write me at andersjd@mit.edu

    By Blogger ruski-canuk, at July 20, 2007 11:36 AM  

  • New one is coming soon. it's realy looks good.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th5y_DVFyyM

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 27, 2008 1:28 PM  

  • This is seriously best and cool, i thing its still alfa version

    http://www.citysurf.com.tr/download/Globe/CityGlobeSetup_1814.exe

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at April 05, 2008 5:44 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 8:04 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Anonymous Anderson, at June 30, 2008 1:34 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger freak, at August 09, 2008 6:57 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at August 22, 2008 4:29 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 03, 2008 3:00 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger uiyui, at February 02, 2009 12:36 AM  

  • I'd like to point out (i.e. shamelessly plug) an advanced virtual globe called Geoweb3d. It's a bit different from any of the other virtual globes listed. It's a full-featured geospatial visualization tool that lets you view GIS data not just as thematic overlays, but also as hundreds of thousands of detailed 3D models, lightpoints, and more. You can literally build up an entire city in minutes, complete with light posts, fire hydrants, traffic signals and signs, etc.

    It uses the latest in video card technology to provide high-fidelity graphics AND excellent data interoperability. Up until now the two have been mutually exclusive. Every time you open up a project, it builds up the entire scene from scratch directly from the source data, meaning your visualization is always up to date.

    It supports very high resolution imagery and DEM, and it even can load data out of a geodatabase. It features an embedded geo-enabled web browser and an integrated ArcGIS Engine component.

    http://www.geoweb3d.com

    By Blogger Christian Maire, at March 04, 2009 5:19 AM  

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