Virtual globes are three-dimensional representations of Earth, and arguably of any other celestial body. A few examples are: Google Earth, NASA World Wind, ESRI's imminent ArcGIS Explorer , and Skyline's TerraSuite. This site will host various information about UC Santa Barbara Department of Geography inquiries into virtual globes, the Digital Earth vision, web-based GIS and related technology.

Back for More: UCSB Geography hosting another virtual globes session at AAG — San Francisco, 2007

Grad students Josh Bader and Alan Glennon are hosting a session titled: Virtual Globes: GIS for the Masses?, at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, April 17-21, 2007, San Francisco, California. Session description and call for abstracts. Last year's well-attended session was a hit!

A Blog

Alan maintains a blog on the topic, Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes

Great Examples and Getting Started

A few recent projects of UCSB Geography grads appear in the gallery to the right, and more are in progress. There is an growing array of sophisticated applications of Google Earth for science and education. The James River environmental sensor network is exceptional. Another great place to explore for inspiration is the Google Earth user forums. A great deal can be done with a little point-and-click, but the KML markup language holds the key to more sophisticated apps. Another nice resource is Andrea Nuernberger's Virtual Globes in the Classroom, developed for a CSISS workshop this Spring

UCSB Geography on Google Earth

Grad student Karl Grossner began assembling a Department of Geography "presence" on Google Earth last winter. You'll need the free Google Earth browser, so download the latest version. Then to have a look at this work in progress, download ucsb.kmz