View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

» Click here to visit Molecular Expressions

from ogleearth.com | Jan 1 2006



In what is quite an auspicious start to 2006 for wonderful things being done with Google Earth, Germany's Bernhard Sterzbach today came out with a beta of his Globe Glider, which brings the holy grail of integrating Google Earth with the web browser a whole lot closer.

Globe Glider is a dynamic network link, but on steroids. Its main innovation is much tighter integration between Google Earth and its built-in browser installation requires you to allow Google Earth to be scriptable, a setting that gets changed in the Windows registry (see setup instructions).

Once Globe Glider is up and running, the browser window shows all manner of relevant information about the current view in Google Earth, and it updates automatically. (I got some errors, but that's probably because I don't have ActiveX installed, as I used Virtual PC for the Mac to check this).

I especially like the built-in GeoURL tab, which updates to show you nearby GeoURL entries in the browser. Same goes for a list of links to nearby places, with Google Earth's view moving to these places if you click on the links. We have two-way communication between browser and Earth, then, and that's a wonderful thing to see. (Other tabs point to Answers.com, destination guides and also nearby hotels, so there looks to be a referral-based business model behind all this.)

» Click here to check out Globe Glider

NASA World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there. Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara. (free download)

» worldwind.arc.nasa.gov
» worldwindcentral.com

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The idea is simple. It's a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route. We invite you to try it now. Google Earth is free for personal use. No registration is required. You may (optionally) choose to upgrade to Google Earth Plus.

Click here to visit Google Earth

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The goal of the Virtual Terrian Project (VTP) is to foster the creation of tools for easily constructing any part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form.
This goal will require a synergetic convergence of the fields of CAD, GIS, visual simulation, surveying and remote sensing. VTP gathers information and tracks progress in areas such as procedural scene construction, feature extraction, and rendering algorithms. VTP writes and supports a set of software tools, including an interactive runtime environment (VTP Enviro). The tools and their source code are freely shared to help accelerate the adoption and development of the necessary technologies.To learn more about VTP and the field of virtual terrain, use the subject headings below. You can also request the VTP distribution as a CDROM or download.
The site includes a complete listing on commercial and non commercial terrain visualization and geographic information systems (GIS) software.

» vterrain.org

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The planet-earth project is building a live, immersive, user-created map of the whole world and everything in it.

The planet-earth project is powered by 3map, a Free Software platform for realtime 3D geospatial applications.

The planet-earth project takes inspiration from Buckminster Fuller's Geoscope, Mark Pesce's WebEarth, slashdot's everything project, the earth application from neal stephenson's snowcrash, and douglas adams' hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (now incarnate at h2g2).

Of course, it is not affiliated with these things.

3map needs people who know VRML/X3D, Java, Python, XML, SQL and GIS.

planet-earth needs 3D artists and modellers, GPS enthusiasts, publishers and field reporters. And all kinds of other people too. Don't be a stranger ;)

If you're interested in joining planet-earth, or you'd like to know more about the project, » click here to visit their website.

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From the Infomagnet website

Globe-i is a 3-dimensional interactive globe that displays information about the world in your browser. The Earth can be rotated and inspected and displays can be changed to see information in the most appropriate form.Global-i has been described as "A Global Marketer's Dream" but it is not just for marketers or ecomomists. It is for anyone who wants to learn about the world and what makes it go round. By viewing this information in context, the world makes more sense. At present the emphasis is on economic data and there is plenty of other information too - health, infrastructure, energy, military ... and more — from present day back to 1960 and we are adding to this list all the time."

A free version is available with a restricted set of data — There is no software to install, Global-i opens in your web browser.

» Click here to visit Infomagnet

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Free demo version of Geofusion's commercial software

» geoplayer.com/gateways

Molecularium™ is an award-winning, groundbreaking Digital-Dome animation that takes audiences on an unforgettable adventure into the nanoscale universe of molecules with an ensemble cast of animated atoms. This National Science Foundation funded project was co-written and produced by Kurt Przybilla, long time BFI member, student of Synergetics and inventor of Tetra Tops™.

The Molecularium™ Project's premiere attraction, Riding Snowflakes, is a science lesson, a thrilling ride, a musical cartoon and a magical journey into the world of atoms and molecules. Aboard the Molecularium™, audiences join an ensemble cast of atomic characters on an immersive and unforgettable adventure into the nanoscale universe. Explore billions and trillions of molecules with Oxy, a precocious young oxygen atom, and Hydro and Hydra, her hydrogen sidekicks. Fly through the structure of a snowflake in the most fantastic ship in the Universe at a digital planetarium dome near you soon.

The Molecularium™ Project is an entirely new way to learn. It is committed to promoting science literacy and awareness for children of all ages. Our goal is to create a series of unique vehicles using engaging atomic characters to fulfill this commitment.

Molecularium™ is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between scientists and artists, educators and entertainers. The first show of its kind, Molecularium™ presents accurate molecular simulations within a musical cartoon adventure. The crew of Molecularium™ draws from the talents of over 100 people from a wide range of disciplines: scientists, molecular simulators, computer animators, story and song writers, character creators, singers, actors, musicians, teachers, students, software developers, audio and video engineers, and many more.

Molecularium™ is the flagship outreach and informal education effort of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's National Science Foundation funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for Directed Assembly of Nanostructures.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF THE MOLECULARIUM^™

Omnidirectional Projection Systems: The development of digital dome projection systems for planetaria is a recent one. Digital dome is an emerging medium that allows us to use the dome to visualize much more than space and stars. Most well known large planetaria have already installed multiple projector digital systems, but the development of single projector systems with an omnifocus lens has radically reduced cost and complexity, and created a rapidly growing number of small digital dome systems worldwide.
Omnidirectional Fisheye Lens: Molecularium^™ was developed in a digital dome with a single lens projection system. Inspired by this innovation, the Molecularium^™ team developed its counterpart: an omnidirectional fisheye lens for a virtual camera. The omnidirectional camera captures an entire immersive world in a single frame, instead of using multiple shots from different camera angles that are later stitched together, as is commonly done. This is a radical innovation, as it allows for the streamlining, ease of use, and democratization of the digital dome medium.



Molecular Simulation: The many molecular environments in "Riding Snowflakes" are derived from accurate theoretical simulations (circa 2005). Generating the molecular worlds described in the screenplay entailed a wide range of challenges in statistical mechanics, molecular modeling, and simulation. To create a truly immersive portal into the nanoscale universe, required simulations of a massive scale and complexity, an entirely unusual request for the chemical and biological engineers and scientists involved in the project. Additionally, the creation of a believable, dynamic, and cinematic molecular landscape that visualizes the plot twists and dramatic tension of the story, posed a host of new creative challenges for the collaborating scientists. Their involvement in this work has brought about insights that will hopefully spark a breakthrough in the very real worlds of energy, environment, and health.
Data Driven Animation: Translating the vast amount scientific simulation data posed unique challenges for Molecularium's^™ CG animation team. The gigantic data sets generated by the incredible numbers of atoms in most scenes required innovative procedural animation techniques to enable the computers to process and render through an omnidirectional fisheye world-view. As a result of this new hybrid of simulation and animation, we see the atomic structures of the universe as never before. Atoms and molecules are rendered with reflections, refractions, texture, color, lighting, motion blur, and atmospheric volume. They are rendered to be as believable and real as the objects that they constitute.

Be sure to check out the trailer and have fun building molecules in the Molecularium™ Project's interactive kid's website.

» Click here to visit molecularium.com



Click on the images above to check out the TetraTops™ kits in our on-line store.

See also:
» domefest.org/
» sciss.se/
» scalingtheuniverse.com/
» fulldome.org
» visualbandwidth.com
» elumenati.com
» e-planetarium.com

The Green Map System (GMS) is a locally adaptable, globally shared framework for environmental mapmaking. It invites design teams of all ages and backgrounds to illuminate the connections between natural and human environments by mapping their local urban or rural community. Using GMS's shared visual language--a collaboratively designed set of Icons representing the different kinds of green sites and cultural resources--Mapmakers are independently producing unique, regionally flavored images that fulfill local needs, yet are globally connected.

The resulting Green Maps identify, promote and link eco and cultural resources. Merging the ancient art of map making with new media tools, each of these maps creates a fresh perspective that helps residents discover and get involved in their community's environment, and helps guide tourists (even virtual ones) to special places and successful green initiatives they can replicate back home.

» Click here to visit the Greenmap site