Google Earth, step aside!

I used to think Google Earth was impressive, but I’ve since seem something far more grand. Nasa’s World Wind program, which you can download free of charge, is my new favorite global mapping program.

For starters, just compare these two images:

Google Earth:

Nasa World Wind:

Look at that contrast. Nasa’s program uses a template called “Blue Marble” that gives real rich colors. The design is smoother, the interface is more intuitive, the topography is so beautiful you can feel the differences in altitude, and you can see cloud coverage, hurricanes, volcanoes, dust storms, and other natural events in the fourth dimension. The picture to the left here is Hurricane Katrina—that’s how good this program is.

Google has more detail if you’re looking for street-level images outside major cities, plus it’s got some clever gimmicks like gray 3D buildings in some US cities. But cartographic posts from now on will be using World Wind, not Google Earth.

NOTE: Sorry Mac users (Younghusband, Nathan, Dr. Wallace et al.), both of these programs are for the PC only. But I will at least refrain from gloating.