Digital Geography

Thanks to an email from Marcin Brzezinski, I’ve had a look at the the most recent verison of WorldWind. The download was slightly quicker than usual and on opening the browser for the first time I was struck by the richness of the colour and the added detail of the Next Generation Blue Marble. I’m pleased that the original virtual globe is looking better than ever, partly due to the depiction of bathymetry.

The full range of satellite data is now available from the menu, providing a good opportunity to teach about the range of data available through remote sensing, and for my home area at least, the resolution is as good as that provided by the current dataset from Google Earth. There are a few new features, most notably real time weather overlays, but many of the improvements seem to be directed towards increased speed and usability.

Despite the emergence of Google Earth (and Earth Browser,) there are several reasons why World Wind still deserves it’s place in the classroom (for teachers lucky enough to have a PC capable of running it), the most compelling being the plug-ins developed by the academic community. Many of these are not available for Google Earth, a good example being an extension that locates the photographs of Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (Click on the thumbnail for a screenshot)

A list of available extensions and add-ons may be found here. Many of these are very useful in the geography classroom, and to my mind, World Wind’s less clutttered interface is preferable to the rather more commercially orientated Google Earth, when viewing large scale overlays. The MODIS and GLOBE features also provide a vast range of data, much of it viewable as animations, that would be particularly relevant to A level.

For the benefit of hard up teachers I have invested in the commercial add-ons provided by DYNAGIS and I can thoroughly recommend the “Golden Pearl” series, priced at 10 Euros, comprising many additional layers including:

Basic Maps
Country Names
Country Boundaries
Country Basic Data
Cities Worldwide
Political Maps
UTM Grid
Average Age
Birth Rates
Fertility Rates
Illiterate Rates
Infant Mortality Rates
Life Expectancy Rates
Migration Rates
Mortality Rate
Population Density
Population Growth Rate
People Under Poverty Line
Unemployment Rates
Continent Maps
Sub-Continent Maps
GEO Regions
GEO Sub-Regions
Highest Mountains
Land Lights
Bio Eco Zones
Tree Coverage
Earthquake Zones
Wet Lands Wilderness Areas
Coloured Relief Map
Contoured Relief Map
Topological Height Ranges

Although the layers are visually striking, sadly the developers don’t seem to be able to add a colour key. The values are visible on zooming in to individual countries, once this option has been selected in the Layer Manager.
DYNAGIS overlay showing mortality rate. (Click to enlarge the thumbnail)

To their credit, DYNAGIS provide some of these layers free of charge.

In summary, World Wind is still capable of taking your breath away. The recent improvements, and the range of extensions make it a valuable classroom tool. But will your PC be up to running it?