The virtual globe market is beginning to get a little crowded. Most people know of Google Earth, Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and NASA’s World Wind. But they might not have heard of WW2D - an open source, cross-platform application. It runs on JAVA and is free to download. I haven’t had the opportunity to do so and test it out but there are a few screenshots of the program and a comparison of the features available in the various virtual globes. The program uses Blue Marble Net Generation, Landsat 7, USGS Topo, Digital Ortho Imagery and urban area imagery. There is also a list of add-on data that can be downloaded and used within the application.

By way of Le Petit Blog Cartographique.