Gerd Grüneis and his team at ART+COM in Berlin have created T_Vision, the ultimate world globe. A large projection screen displays an image of Earth, created by assembling a variety of satellite data in a Silicon Graphics Reality Engine. The interface is a sphere about one meter in diameter, like a giant trackball. For large-scale motion, spin the sphere and the globe on the screen rotates in response. For navigation at finer levels of resolution, there's a 3-D mouse.
From 80 miles high, you can observe cloud patterns, which are constantly changing as the system downloads weather data in real time. A touch of the mouse and you can "fly" to any spot on Earth for a detailed view. In Berlin, the image is precise enough that you can see people and cars on the Kurfürstendamm.
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ELECTRIC WORD
An Anti-Gravity Room of One's Own
Real-Time Globe
