Trace Anyones Exact Location Using NASA Satellite Tool

What is NASA World Wind anyway?
World Wind is open source Windows software that lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there. See World Wind for more information.

[edit] Before Installing

Read System Requirements, Software Requirements, and Minimum configuration (just scroll down a page). World Wind is large and demanding of computer resources.

[edit] How can I download NASA World Wind?

The latest version is 1.4.0. See What's new in 1.4.
This version is clearly marked if you go to Help->About in World Wind.
To get the latest version visit NASA World Wind Download.
Alternatively you can run a more Windows Vista/7 friendly version of NASA World Wind 1.4 at Spoon.net (please note a browser plugin is required).

[edit] What about the source code?

The source code is for developers. It is an additional download to the Full Install. If you just want to use World Wind and look around, all you need is the Full Install.
If you want the source code as well, download both. Once you run the full install, copy the Data directory from your World Wind full install directory into your source directory.
See source code for more information.

[edit] System Requirements

• Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and 7 (see Windows Vista/7 compatibility section below)
• 3D graphics card (see Video Card Compatibility)
• Internet connection
• Sorry, no support for Linux or Macintosh yet (but you may check multiplatform World Wind Java SDK)

[edit] Windows Vista/7 compatibility

WorldWind Properties Dialog Box 1

WorldWind Properties Dialog Box 2

World Wind was not designed for Windows Vista or Windows 7, but can run on it. The best way is installing World Wind outside of the program files directory, in C:\NASA for example, or on another partition (e.g. D:\Program Files\NASA).
Another workaround is to leave UAC enabled and run World Wind as an administrator:

• Install World Wind as you would any other Windows program. Once installed then right click the World Wind application or shortcut and select "properties." (See Dialog Box 1)
• On the properties dialog box under the Compatibility tab select "Run this program as an administrator" and then save this change. (See Dialog Box 2)

World Wind can then be run as any other Windows program and the UAC prompts whether to allow or cancel it.
You can also change WW directory properties and give users full access rights to it.
Disabling UAC is not recommended!

[edit] Spoon Solution

An alternative solution is to run the Spoon.net version of NASA World Wind. This version does not seem to have any of the UAC or Managed DirectX problems that the standard installer has, but be aware a browser plugin is required to use any Spoon.net apps. Run NASA World Wind online at Spoon.net: spoon.net/worldwind.

[edit] Windows 95,98,ME compatibility

Since these versions of Windows are no longer maintained by Microsoft, World Wind may introduce features that will break compatibility with them. As such, World Wind should no longer be expected to run on these systems. However, you may find that it will work as long as your system meets the other minimum requirements.
If you are using any of these systems and are having problems, feel free to ask questions in the Forums and Chat.

[edit] Software Requirements

The installer should detect and direct you to install these by default. If you are installing these because you believe there is an error, please install in the order listed below.
Microsoft .NET 2.0
Microsoft Managed Directx 9.0c (October 2005 redistributable)

[edit] Minimum configuration

With the minimum configuration, performance and functionality may be less than expected.

• 500 MHz or higher CPU
• 128 MB RAM
• 500 MB disk space (World Wind's cache size is 2 GB by default; you must reduce the size of your cache)

[edit] Recommended configuration

• 1.4 GHz or higher CPU
• 256 MB of RAM
• DSL/cable connection or faster
• 3 GB of disk space

Features such as atmosphere scattering and sun shading require additional CPU & GPU resources.

[edit] Installation

[edit] "Upgrading" from 1.3.5

If you have 1.3.5 you can move the old datafiles from cache to use it with version 1.4: From:

C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.3\Cache\

to

C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.4\Cache\

[edit] "Upgrading" from 1.3.1.1 or earlier

There are several things to note when using the full install to upgrade to new versions from pre 1.3.2.

[edit] Blue Marble

The Blue Marble imagery has been removed from the installer in order to reduce the size of the initial download. The imagery will now download as you use World Wind.
If you have an old version of World Wind you can move the images to the new folder and you will not need to download them again. From:

• 1.3.1 location: C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.3\Data\Earth\BlueMarbleTextures
• 1.3.2 location: C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.3\Cache\Earth\Images\Blue Marble Tiled (1km per pixel)

to:
C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.4\Cache\Blue Marble
Also move the base image:
C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.3\Data\Earth\BlueMarbleTextures\land_shallow_topo_2048.dds
to:
C:\Program Files\NASA\World Wind 1.4\Cache\ImageUrls\worldwind.arc.nasa.gov\downloads\land_shallow_topo_2048.dds

[edit] Problems After a Successful Install

[edit] World Wind Fatal Error dialog box

If you get this error when World Wind loads try setting your display to either 16 or 32 bit color. There are reports that 24 or 32 bit color is causing this issue. 16 bit works without any issue. also check for graphic card compatibility.

[edit] My video card isn't working - "Unable to create the Direct3D m_Device3d" error

Check out the Video Card Compatibility list. Please, by all means, edit it depending on whether yours works.
Ensure that your video card drivers are up to date and Managed DirectX is installed.
Try going to Start->Run and typing 'dxdiag'. This should load up the DirectX Diagnosis program. Under Display please make sure everything is working and enabled.

[edit] Every time I try to run the program it crashes with a "JIT debugger" error message.

Yikes, these are the worst. A few notes when trying to debug these. The process ID and thread ID are pointless and don't really help at all. Any other error codes you might receive may be helpful. Do not be concerned that there was no debugger found. As we get more organized and get more of an idea what errors are coming up I will try to post additional information here.
If you get this error and want more detailed debugging information, you can start the World Wind application from the command line and redirect standard error to a file. This file will then contain the full text of the .NET exception and stack trace which may help in determining the cause of the problem. The following is a sample of launching World Wind to redirect standard error.
WorldWind.exe 2> error.log
Some people have reported that installing the software requirements listed above has fixed their issues.
A new DirectX Runtime can solve this problem: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4b1f5d0c-5e44-4864-93cd-464ef59da050&DisplayLang=en

[edit] My computer is crashing/hangs

Most likely you have a hardware/driver problem. Test your computer stability with 3D graphics by running for instance 3DMark or other DirectX benchmarking software.

[edit] Error x135

This error occurs when you try to run a .NET application but .NET is not installed (or is corrupt). To solve this error message, either install, or remove and reinstall .NET. See How Do I reinstall .Net?.

[edit] cordbg.exe !a 0x5b4 code

This is a compatibility problem with .Net. See How Do I reinstall .Net?.

[edit] How do I reinstall .Net?

1. Uninstall all .Net.
2. Delete microsoft.net in the Windows Directory and (maybe) in Program Files (directory).
3. REBOOT.
4. Start the World Wind install.
5. It should ask to install .Net. Follow the instructions. (If you're not asked then you forget to delete something)
6. REBOOT.
7. Start the World Wind install again.
8. It may ask to install DirectX runtime. Say "ok".
9. Start the World Wind install again.
10. Finished.

[edit] More Debugging Help

This blog post points to several verification tools to make sure .NET is installed properly.

[edit] No Landsat icons / No Images in Layer Manager

If you are missing your "Images" or "ZoomIt!" choices in the Layer Manager. Check to make sure World Wind can connect to the Internet. These are downloaded when you start World Wind. Most likely cause is a proxy or firewall blocking World Wind. (see also Issues Downloading Tiles)
This can also happen on Windows Vista - see Vista compatibility section.

[edit] Issues Downloading Tiles

To make sure there is no server-side problem check Server status page.

[edit] Download Monitor

Download progress monitor window showing detailed information about requested files

World Wind version 1.3 has a download monitor which can be very helpful diagnosing problems. Hold down Control (Ctrl) and hit H.

[edit] Why am I getting 'Problem connecting to server. Trying again in 2 minutes'

Several possible reasons:

1. Maybe the server is down. You could say... try again in 2 minutes.
2. You may be behind a blocking proxy/firewall. You'll need to configure a port remapper, or hunt down an admin to help. See below.
3. Make sure you have installed [1]. (Issue WW-6)
4. You could be in a country that blocks access to worldwind sites & download servers. Try to find a proxy? We haven't yet had any confirmed reports of this.
5. Remember to use the HTTP Download Monitor (CTRL+H) to see what exactly is going on. Double click an entry and you get a box. Paste the contents of that box into a new forum thread in the technical support section and someone will come along and help you.

[edit] Is there a way to set a proxy?

Press Alt+Q to edit the proxy settings. The default setting is to use the Windows default proxy settings.

[edit] Proxy Issues

If using the proxy settings in World Wind doesn't work you may want to try using a portmapper such as AnalogX PortMapper.

[edit] Why are the wrong image tiles showing up?

It is possible that you are viewing more than one layer and therefore are not seeing the tile you expect. Go to the Layer Manager and make sure only one image layer box is checked.
If you still believe that the tile contains bad data you can hit F5 to refresh the current view. This will redownload all visible tiles for all active layers. Alternatively, follow the instructions for "How are the tiles named?" to delete the individual tile.
If you do manage to find a "bad" tile and keep downloading the same "bad" tile, please kindly record the filename information of the tile and let someone know in Chat or on the Forums.

[edit] How are the tiles named?

The tile-naming structure is based on the layer name, level, longitude and latitude. [2]
Starting with World Wind 1.3.3 you can view tile name information from within World Wind.
To view tile filenames and outlines open the Layer Manager and right-click on any bottom level image node (an item without an arrow) and select Properties. In the resulting window change the RenderTileFileNames property value to True and you will see the red outline and text for each tile.
Be aware that the text and outlines are rendered at a different height to the terrain; for best results set the Vertical Exaggeration to 0 and make sure you're viewing the center of the outline.