Another school that is leveraging World Wind Java for a project is the International Space University.  This project consists of a group 40 students with different backgrounds ranging from satellite applications to policy and law.

The team project is described as disaster risk management (DRM) and the mission statement is to extend the current capabilities of CAPRA (Comprehensive Approach for Probabilistic Risk Assessment) using both space and ground based technologies to evaluate risk, minimize vulnerability, and mitigate the adverse effects of disasters in Central America.

This summer there are three Programming Camps being held at the iD Programming Academy at Stanford University. These camps are for 13 to 18 year olds and focuses on the Java language and NASA World Wind.

One group had to build a computerized version of Risk, to be played on the World Wind globe, while another group created a program allowing users to personalize World Wind maps by labelling points of interest and mapping routes. A third group had to figure out a way to use a Wii Fit Balance Board to move across the World Wind globe — users stand on the board and lean forward to go forward, sideways to go sideways, essentially flying over the Earth.

I have already shown a video of the WWJava Risk Game.  Which is quite amazing.

Great work for a bunch of kids.

Found this via CNN today, it is a distrubited project that turns computers into Earthquake monitors, called Quake-Catcher Network.

The Quake-Catcher Network is a collaborative initiative for developing the worlds largest, low-cost strong-motion seismic network by utilizing sensors in and attached to internet-connected computers.

With motion sensors in many notebooks and an Internet connection, the number of siesmic detectors can greatly increase  (though I have to wonder what normal human activity shows up as).  There is also a desktop version as well that will use a USB attached motion sensor.

This project is also geared greatly towards educational uses and development:

The open-source software will provide the client-user with a screen-saver displaying seismic data recorded on their laptop, recently detected earthquakes, and general information about earthquakes and the geosciences. Furthermore, this project will install USB sensors in K-12 classrooms as an educational tool for teaching science. Through a variety of interactive experiments students will learn about earthquakes and the hazards earthquakes pose. For example, students can learn how the vibrations of an earthquake decrease with distance by jumping up and down at increasing distances from the sensor and plotting the decreased amplitude of the seismic signal measured on their computer.

Not you’re local shopping mall, but the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. NOAA and the Smithsonian have worked together to develop “The Sant Ocean Hall“, this exhibit hall combines 674 marine specimens and models, high-definition video experiences, one-of-a kind exhibits, and the newest technology, enabling visitors to explore the ocean’s past, present, and future as never before.

What looks really interesting and worth a trip to go see is the “Science on a Sphere” exhibit.

NOAA’s Science On A Sphere™ will take visitors as if they were 22,000 miles in space where they will see ocean and atmospheric processes displayed across a spinning globe and understand why Earth is so appropriately called “the blue planet.” The Science On A Sphere™ was invented by Sandy MacDonald, director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

Been spending the last 30 minutes or so browsing through the new NASA Science Website.  This is a very nice site that is loaded to the brim with great information.

I like how it is broken in information for Researches, Educators, Kids and Citizen Scientists for some specific information for those groups of users; and divides the content into Earth centric, Sun centered, Planets and Astrophysics.

But.. no mention of NASA WorldWind though…

Wired has an interesting blog post up on the greatest gadgets from all of history, including the Antikythera Computer, the pocket watch and the Baghdad Batteries.  But the most interesting gadgets they list relate a lot to what most people use now; Virtual Globes, and GPS / navigation.

First up is the The Seamless Globe.  The earliest known model was invented by Eratosthenes in 255BC, with Zhang Heng creating a water-powered example in the second century.  With the greatest being the seamless but static perfect globes created for the Mughal Emperors, between the 16th-19th centuries.

Next item covered is the Classical GPS: The Equitorium, Torquetum, Astrolabe, Sextant and Orrery.  The astrolabe was in use from before the age of Christ until the modern era. An analog computer able to predict and pinpoint the location of heavenly bodies.  The sextant, a device that allows navigators to quickly measure the angle of the sun, was another essential gadget on the high seas.  The equitorium was able to pinpoint the relative positions of the Moon, Sun and planets without any calculation, mechanical or otherwise, it was first invented by Arzachel in the eleventh Century.  Illustrating in miniature a three dimensional model of the solar system, Orreries also model the movements of its constituent bodies.

The last two covered are the Mariner’s Compass and the pocketwatc.  Until the second millenium, it was impossible for mariners on the open sea to accurately track latitude. The compass was invented in China in the 11th century and in common use worldwide by the end of the 13th century.  The mechanical clock, with its intricate gearing and accuracy, standardized timing.

All of these inventions combined are what have brought us to the point where I can look at my phone and know there is a Starbucks around the corner..