It is done!  They said it couldn’t be done but it was!  You can now download daily changes of the WorldWind Java SDK, starting with version 0.6.

Tom Gaskins has a detailed post on the WorldWind forum, but you can skip that if you want and just go directly to the builds server.  Now, while you can download the source code.. you can’t commit any changes into it.  What most people have been doing is posting their changes on the WorldWind forum and they changes work their way in that way.  Hopefully this will change to a true SVN once 1.0 is released.

Changes from WWJ SDK 0.5 to 0.6 early access – March 6, 2009
————————————————————

• New Airspace shapes and volumes, terrain conformant. See render.airspaces package and examples.Airspaces and AirspaceBuilder
• New rubber sheet images. See util.ImageUtil and examples.RubberSheetImage
• New measure tools. See util.measure package and examples.MeasureToolUsage
• New ‘on-screen display’ layers: ViewControlsLayer, LayerManagerLayer and StatusLayer
• New ContourLine renderable primitive. See examples.ContourLines
• New Web Service Catalog support. See applications.gio

• Data import and installation:

• Local imagery and elevation import into WWJ cache format – see data.TiledImageProducer and data.TiledElevationProducer
• Reading, writing, and discovery of file descriptors for WWJ cache format – see cache.FileStore and data.DataDescriptor
• Discovery and conversion of WWJ.Net cache format – see data.WWDotNetDataLayerSetReader and data.WWDotNetLayerSetInstaller

• New DDS compressor with support for mipmaps – see formats.dds.DDSCompressor

• Icon layer and renderer allow to use absolute elevations, apply horizon and view clipping
• Applet package updated for Sun Next Generation Java plugin support
• Conpound and local elevation models. See terrain package
• FlatWorld example updated with round/flat globe switching code
• Track markers updated – see render.markers package, layers.MarkerLayer and examples.MarkersOrder
• PlacenameLayer updated – see layers.placename package and examples.Placenames
• TerrainProfileLayer new ‘follow path’ mode – see examples.MeasureToolUsage
• Terrain intersection test for Line and elevation. See terrain.SectorGeometryList and render.ContourLine
• On-screen layers display location offset – see layers.Compass, WorldMap, Scalebar…
• New format support: tab, tiff and world file – see format package
• Tiled image layers alpha blending fixed and mipmap support.
• New examples.util package – browser launcher, audio and slides players, image viewer…

• Data driven navigation sensitivity settings – see awt.ViewInputAttributes.
• Redesigned OrbitViewInputBroker as ViewInputHandler – see awt.ViewInputHandler. Improved navigation near the terrain, and made it easier for applications to extend or modify the navigation behavior.
• Sharper image-based surface shapes. Experimental geometry based surface shapes.
• Experimental hybrid tessellator to better handle the poles.
• Improved WMS server
• Image transformation and reprojection utilities. See util.ImageUtil.
• New Ant build structure.
• Collision detection demo.
• New network status host available/unavailable events.
• Added a pre-render stage to the system, and implemented classes to create textures by drawing to the frame buffer or an FBO, most typically during the pre-render stage.

• Refactoring

• Position is now a LatLon subclass

• On hold

• Fog layer produces artifacts with the new tiled image layer premultiplied alpha blending and has been removed
• Remote surface images are being reworked into a more generic scheme

Bull’s Rambles also covers this release.