Product Comparison
From World Wind Wiki
| Which virtual globe is right for you? | |||||||
| NASA World Wind | Google Earth | Google Earth Plus | Google Earth Pro | ArcGIS Explorer | Virtual Earth 3D | SkylineGlobe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | open-source | proprietary | proprietary | proprietary | proprietary | ||
| Price | free | free-of-charge (personal use) | $20 per year (personal use) | $400 per year | |||
| Requirements2 | Windows 2000, XP, 2003 / 700MHz CPU, 128MB RAM | Windows 2000, XP; Mac OS X; Linux / 500MHz CPU, 128MB RAM | Windows 2000, XP; Mac OS X; Linux / 1.5GHz CPU, 500MB RAM | Windows 2003, XP, Vista + Internet Explorer 6+ / 1GHz CPU, 256MB RAM | Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP + IE 5.5+ or Firefox 1.0+ / 256MB RAM | ||
| Planets | Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, SDSS | Earth, space (planetarium) | Earth | Earth | Earth | ||
| Imagery | multiple layers for every planet | one layer with hi-res patches | several layers from ArcGIS Online service | 3 layers: aerial, road, hybrid | |||
| Elevation data | lands + oceans (bathymetry), possible to add own hi-res data | lands only | lands only | lands only | |||
| cache limited only by disk size | 2GB | cache limited only by disk size | |||||
| 3D Imagery Capabilities | Anaglyph 3D support | ||||||
| Screenshots | Unlimited (Plugin for larger than screen) | 1000px | 1000px (1400px print) | 4800px | 2500px (30,000px Pro) | ||
| Search capabilities | cities and villages: worldwide, detailed addresses: US, UK, Japan, Australia 1 | cities and villages: worldwide, detailed addresses: many countries | cities and villages: worldwide, detailed addresses: US, UK, Japan, Australia | cities and villages: worldwide, detailed addresses: US | |||
| Driving directions | 
| many countries | United States | many countries | |||
| Data formats | World Wind XML, KML/KMZ3, SHP, WMS, WFS, Images4 | KML/KMZ, WMS3, Images4, GPX, COLLADA | All Available | ||||
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| Movie Maker | (plugin)
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| Support | Website, chat | Website only | Website, email | Website, email, chat | |||
| (Your idea for a feature here) | 5
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- 1 With VE geocoder
- 2 All programs require modern video card and broadband internet connection
- 3 Limited/Not all features are supported
- 4 jpg/png/gif/bmp/...
- 5 World Wind is readily extensible through a plugin interface
Sources
- Which version of Google Earth is right for you?
- GE minimum and recommended configurations
- System Requirements for ArcGIS Explorer
- Virtual Earth 3D requirements
- SkylineGlobe/TerraExplorer Requirements
See also
- Virtual Globe on Wikipedia - comparison of the 3 most popular globes
