NASA World Wind
What is NASA World Wind?
• A richly interactive 3D
planetary visualization
tool.
• Smart client architecture.
• Portal for NASA data.
• Integrates data from a
variety of sources.
Why NASA
World Wind?
• NASA has a great wealth of
planetary science data
• Standards-based and
highly extensible .NET
3D planetary viewing tool
– Earth…Moon…Mars…
• Supports research,
academia, education and
public awareness
Smart Client Technology
• Algorithms optimize
the integration and
seamless blending of
multiple data sources
– Combine diverse data
formats of broad
ranging resolutions
– Data is streamed
simultaneously from
multiple servers
Extensible Technology
• API architecture provides for a
fully configurable client
– Unlimited customization via plugins
• E.g., Real-time tracking of the International
Space Station, etc.
– Unlimited functionality via XML
files and plug-in modules without
any need to change the code
• Digital Aeronautical Flight Information
(NGA)
Plug-In Example
• Air Traffic Control
– Flight path visualization
– Air traffic patterns and
other 3D simulations
readily shared and
analyzed
– Provide more intuitive
views than traditional
projection, e.g., polar
routes
Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File
Base Data Composition
DAACs
Earth Science
• NASA Geospatial Interoperability
Office building portal to DAAC’s.
World Wind will deliver the 3D data.
Planetary Science
Education Significance
• International 10-week
10th-grade curriculum on
the origin of life developed
via Space Act agreement
with Australia & the U.K.
• NASA Earth Science
curriculum development
Humanitarian Significance
• UN Division of Early Warning and
Assessment
– World health, agricultural support,
drought forecast, etc.
• US Agency for International
Development
– SERVIR MesoAmerica Project
International Significance
• World Wind used at the presidential decision-making
level for Costa Rica and Panama regarding the Sixaola
River, their international border, where flooding caused
the ‘border’ to change.
Press
International computer magazines: Germany, Poland, Greece,
Italy, China, Japan, Hungary, Netherlands, U.K., Spain, etc.
Total Use
• >100,000 new unique IPs per week
• >1 million downloads a month
• >100 requests for imagery per
second
Open Source Benefits
• Enhanced Software Quality
– Open source community provides
increasing sophistication and expansion of
features and functionality
– Extensive testing of new and existing
features on a wide range of software and
hardware configurations
– Extensive bug identification, tracking, and
resolution
Conclusion
• Provides the standards-based platform for effective
expansion of an information delivery infrastructure.
• Leverages entrenched technology, just as with the
first generation web browser, but now for 3D data.
• Unlimited commercial opportunities via proprietary
plug-in modules for information delivery.
• Millions of users distributed among federal agencies,
academic institutions, commercial organizations, and
the general public.