clipped from en.wikipedia.org NASA World Wind World Wind is a free and open source (released under the NOSA license) virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but more recent Java versions are cross platform. The program overlays NASA and USGS satellite imagery, aerial photography, topographic maps and publicly available GIS data on 3D models of the Earth and other planets. Add-ons and plugins 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 Scripts - files that control camera movement