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The Bull's rambles blog shares the development status of NASA World Wind 1.3.6, 1.4 and 1.5 and describe some new features. From the blog: "I'll list some new features now so you all know what to expect, this is not a comprehensive list it just shows the most visible changes, there are also more 'behind the scenes' changes which will make add-on/plug-in developers drawl, such as the 3Dmodel and 3Dpolygon code." In the list, you'll find: Time controller, Atmospheric scattering and sun shading, 3D compass and scalebar, Integrated web browser and Smaller footprint. Meanwhile, you can also read import cartography's questions about the efficiency of the NASA World Wind development.

Bull's Ramble blog tells us NASA World Wind Java (version 1.5) will stay in close development. From the blog: "We were all kind of expecting this, but personally I think NASA is shooting itself in the foot. I know of quite a few very skilled coders waiting for World Wind Java to start contributing code [...]"

As expected, NASA World Wind 1.4 has been released yesterday, here's the what's new. Those interested should read The Earth is Square blog and may be interested in the World Wind Tours page. Slashdot also discuss the news, where I underline the fact that Google Earth can't be installed at work and could be a factor in favor to NASA World Wind and the Virtual Earth high resolution imagery plugin for NASA World Wind. From the what's new, you'll learn about WMS importer, time controller and a lot of new features. See also the numerous related stories below.

The Earth is Square tells us why a java version of NASA World Wind was developed. From this page with the answer: "DOE's National Nuclear Security Agency competitively selected NASA World Wind as the visualization platform of choice and asked the NASA Ames World Wind team to refactor the software into an API-centric cross-platform SDK solution. Today we are demonstrating that cross platform solution World Wind Java (WWJ)."

This was a busy week for the NASA World Wind developers. The Confused Life blog informs us that the World Wind JAVA SDK has been released, this is not the NASA World Wind Java version but it's a significant step closer. The Earth is Square blog provides links regarding NWW Java and an F-16 demo and the accompanying video along with an interview with the NWW Team. From the latter: "Q) How do you see World Wind in comparison to Google Earth and ArcGIS Explorer? NASA World Wind is focused on science, but more than that, World Wind provides the opportunity for others to expand this open source visualization platform in ways only others can imagine."

The Earth Is Square reports that the new WorldWind Java 1.0 will be released at JavaOne. From their summary: "NASA World Wind provides 3-D virtual globe technology that you can put in your applications. It’s a visual component based on the JavaBeans™ component architecture, with an extensible API and a friendly user interface that you can easily enhance or even replace. It can be used as-is or highly customized. You can put one or more in your programs or your web pages. In a web page, you can control it with the JavaScript™ programming language. It’s as good as it sounds; it’s what the world has been waiting for."

Visit the Earth Is Square blog for more information.