Skyline Online

While reading Declan Butler's articles in the weekly version of Nature, I did notice the following new-to-me information:

Skyline Software Systems, based in Chantilly, Virginia, was one of the first companies to offer a virtual globe: TerraExplorer. Later this year it will release Skyline Online, a browser-based tool similar to ArcGis Explorer. "It will empower users at home as well as researchers with capabilities that have been available only to government agencies until now," says company president, Ronnie Yaron.

For those unfamiliar with ArcGIS Explorer, it is ESRI's upcoming virtual globe designed to offer more out-of-the-box analytical functions than Google Earth. So, expect an analytically-enabled, internet-based virtual globe from Skyline later this year.