Comparison
Today's virtual globes can support various features:
| Virtual Globe | Introduction year | OS - Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix | Program/data license | Multiple datasets | Guides | Overlays | Tools | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School, Restaurant, Hotel | Transport | Park | Street map | Satellite and aerial image | Weather map | Topographic map | Real-time traffic report | GPS-integration | Distance measure | Drawing tools | Movie maker | |||||
| Google Earth | 2005 | all | freeware (Basic) proprietary(Pro) |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Some | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NASA World Wind | 2004 | Windows/all | open source, free domain | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bing Maps | 2006 | Windows only | freeware | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Marble (KDE) | 2006 | all | LGPL | Yes | No | No | No | Yes: OpenStreetMap | Yes | Some: Shows real-time cloud images | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Virtual Globe | Introduction year | OS - Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix | Program/data license | Multiple datasets | Guides | Overlays | Tools | |||||||||
| School, Restaurant, Hotel | Transport | Park | Street map | Satellite and aerial image | Weather map | Topographic map | Real-time traffic report | GPS-integration | Distance measure | Drawing tools | Movie maker | |||||
| Virtual Globe | 3D Modelling | Planetarium | Day/night views | Imagery of other planets | Telescope/ Sky mode | Simulators | Online community user input | Extensibility | Wikipedia integration | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Graphics | Buildings | Terrain | Sea-floor | Flight Simulator | Sunlight Simulator | ||||||||
| Google Earth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Some | Yes |
| NASA World Wind | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Some | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bing Maps | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Marble (KDE) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual Globe | 3D Modelling | Planetarium | Day/night views | Imagery of other planets | Telescope/ Sky mode | Simulators | Online community user input | Extensibility | Wikipedia integration | ||||
| 3D Graphics | Buildings | Terrain | Sea-floor | Flight Simulator | Sunlight Simulator | ||||||||
| Virtual Globe | languages supported | Hi-resolution data set areas | street-level address search areas | driving direction areas | business listing areas | hotel listing areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Earth | 45 different languages, see the full list | Some: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | Some: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | Some: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | Some: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | Some: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States |
| NASA World Wind | English | Some: United States, New Zealand (partially) | Some: Australia, Germany, France, Japan, United States, United Kingdom | No | No | No |
| Bing Maps | English | Some: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Australia, Germany | Some: United States, United Kingdom, Australia | Some: United States, United Kingdom, Australia | No | No |
| Marble (KDE) | Translated as part of KDE, which has 88 languages | No | Yes: via Openstreetmap | Yes: Worldwide via Openstreetmap | No | No |
| Virtual Globe | language support | Hi-resolution data set areas | street-level address search areas | driving direction areas | business listing areas | hotel listing areas |
Read more about this topic: Virtual Globes
Famous quotes containing the word comparison:
“When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“But the best read naturalist who lends an entire and devout attention to truth, will see that there remains much to learn of his relation to the world, and that it is not to be learned by any addition or subtraction or other comparison of known quantities, but is arrived at by untaught sallies of the spirit, by a continual self-recovery, and by entire humility.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)