Geography software

भूगोल सॉफ्टवेयर  Geography software 

 KGeography – Geography Trainer

KGeography is a geography learning tool, which allows you to learn about the political divisions of some countries (divisions, capitals of those divisions and their associated flags if there are some).

Features

• Browse the maps clicking in a map division to see its name, capital and flag
• The game tells you a map division name and you have to click on it
• The game tells you a capital and you have to guess the division it belongs to
• The game tells you a division and you have to guess its capital
• The game shows you a map division flag and you have to guess its name
• The game tells you a map division name and you have to guess its flag
• The game shows an empty map and you have to place divisions on it one by one

v Operating System: Linux ,Windows
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (http://edu.kde.org/applications/miscellaneous/kgeography/)

Marble – Desktop Globe

Marble is a Virtual Globe and World Atlas that you can use to learn more about the Earth.

Features

• You can pan and zoom around and you can look up places and roads
• A mouse click on a place label will provide the respective Wikipedia article
• You can measure distances between locations
• It offers different thematic maps: a classroom-style topographic map, a satellite view, street map, Earth at night and temperature and precipitation maps. All maps include a custom map key, so it can also be used as an educational tool for use in classrooms
• For educational purposes you can also change date and time and watch how the starry sky and the twilight zone on the map change
• Supports multiple projections: choose between a Flat Map (“Plate carré”), Mercator or the Globe
• Promotes the usage of free maps

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v Operating System: Linux ,Windows
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (http://edu.kde.org/applications/school/ktouch/)

KStars – Desktop Planetarium

KStars is a Desktop Planetarium for KDE. It provides an accurate graphical simulation of the night sky, from any location on Earth, at any date and time. The display includes up to 100 million stars, 13,000 deep-sky objects, all 8 planets, the Sun and Moon, and thousands of comets and asteroids.

Features

• Catalogs:
  • Default catalog consisting of stars to magnitude 8
  • Extra catalogs consisting of 100 million stars to magnitude 16
  • Downloadable catalogs including Messier Images, Abell Planetary Nebulae
  • Corrections for precession, nutation and atmospheric refraction
  • Tools for retrieval of data from Online Databases
  • Scriptable actions using D-Bus
  • Integration with INDI provides support for a wide range of instruments
• Features for Educators and Students:
  • Adjustable simulation speed in order to view phenomena that happen over long timescales
  • KStars Astrocalculator to access some of the internal calculations of KStars, and also to predict conjunctions etc.
  • Astroinfo project to help facilitate learning with the aid of KStars
  • Internet links for further information / pictures of objects
• Features for Amateur Astronomers:
  • Observing List tool to plan observations
  • FOV Editor helps calculate field of view of equipment and display them
  • Obtain AAVSO light curves for variable stars
  • What’s up tonight tool
  • Altitude vs Time tool
  • Sky Calendar tool

v Operating System: Linux ,Windows
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (http://edu.kde.org/applications/school/kstars/)

Celestia

Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from small spacecraft to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground-based display.

NASA and ESA have used Celestia in their educational and outreach programs, as well as for interfacing to trajectory analysis software.
Celestia is a free real-time space simulation that lets you visually experience our universe in three dimensions.

Celestia was the initial inspiration and creation of Mr. Chris Laurel, a Seattle, WA computer programmer who in 2001, decided to write a free software program to be made available to everyone on the world-wide-web that would place you in control of a virtual reality world of the universe. His vision and dedication gave birth to a program that is unlike any other space simulation program in existence. Celestia doesn’t confine you to the surface of the Earth as do many other programs. Instead, Chris created a dynamic capability to travel throughout the Solar System and elsewhere in space, at any speed, at any moment of time and in any direction you choose. If you wish, you can fly via your own “hyperdrive” spacecraft to visit stars within the spiral arms of the Milky Way beyond the confines of our Sun, or leave the galaxy entirely to view the bigger universe from deep space. Chris also insisted this program would be scientifically accurate … a true source of dynamic astronomical graphics.
v Operating System: Linux ,Windows
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- ( http://www.shatters.net/celestia/)

Stellarium

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
An interesting feature in Stellarium is that as time passes, the virtual star system will evolve, with the sun setting and the various constellations becoming more prominent in the dark night sky. You have a selection of visual effects that you can switch on or off such as the atmosphere, or trace lines for the star systems. Impressive stuff for a few minutes, but once you’ve got the general gist of what Stellarium entails, you’ll quickly tire of zooming out to distant stars and watching as they slowly move across the screen.

Features

Sky

• default catalogue of over 600,000 stars
• extra catalogues with more than 210 million stars
• asterisms and illustrations of the constellations
• constellations for twelve different cultures
• images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue)
• realistic Milky Way
• very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset
• the planets and their satellites

Interface

• a powerful zoom
• time control
• multilingual interface
• fisheye projection for planetarium domes
• spheric mirror projection for your own low-cost dome
• all new graphical interface and extensive keyboard control
• telescope control

Visualization

• equatorial and azimuthal grids
• star twinkling
• shooting stars
• eclipse simulation
• supernovae simulation
• skinnable landscapes, now with spheric panorama projection

Customizability

• plugin system adding artifical satellites, ocular simulation, telescope configuration and more
• ability to add new solar system objects from online resources…
• add your own deep sky objects, landscapes, constellation images, scripts…

v Operating System: Linux ,Windows
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (www.stellarium.org)

NASA World Wind

NASA World Wind is a graphically rich 3D virtual globe for use on desktop computers running Windows. It combines NASA imagery generated from satellites that have produced Blue Marble, Landsat 7, SRTM, MODIS and more.

Considering Earth is a complex subject, it is no wonder that there are a lot of software solutions meant to assist users in learning new and exciting things about it. NASA World Wind is such an application that can help teachers and students alike get familiarized with our planet.
Compared to other similar tools, NASA World Wind does not focus on a single aspect of the planet, but it rather covers several of them. For instance, users can view the flags for each country of the world, while having the possibility to choose which ones should be visible or hidden.
In addition, they can get the exact location of the mouse cursor or they can get details regarding latitude and longitude. The application also comes with a virtual compass and a distance calculator, both of which can be useful when planning a trip. Furthermore, one can configure NASA World Wind to display the landmarks of an area thus getting details about the most famous touristic attractions located in the neighborhood.

A special side of this application is its Anaglyph Stereo 3D mode, which allows users to view a three-dimensional version of the Earth – needless to say, special 3D glasses are required to fully appreciate this mode.
Another feature that helps NASA World Wind stand out is the fact that users can also explore other planets such as Jupiter, Mars, the Moon or Venus. This way, they can not only learn about their relief, but they can also get information about their satellites.
The only downside of this application is that it requires a lot of RAM to function smoothly, and if there are numerous other programs running on the computer, lags and even crashes might occur frequently.
All in all, NASA World Wind is a fun application that can also be used to learn a lot of new things, especially if the user has the patience to explore its numerous sections.

Datasets available

Low resolution Blue Marble datasets are included with the initial download; as a user zooms in to certain areas, additional high resolution data is downloaded from the NASA servers. The size of all currently available data sets is about 4.6 terabytes.
Earth Animated data layers & Image/terrain datasets

• · Moon
• · Mars
• · Venus
• · Jupiter
• · Sloan Digital sky survey
• · Survey Imagery
• · Footprint Imagery

v Operating System: Windows, Linux
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/)

Google Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funded company acquired by Google in 2004 (see In-Q-Tel). It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. It was available under three different licenses, two currently: Google Earth, a free version with limited function; Google Earth Plus (discontinued), which included additional features; and Google Earth Pro ($399 per year), which is intended for commercial use.

Google Earth is also available as a browser plugin which was released on May 28, 2008. It was also made available for mobile viewers on the iPhone OS on October 28, 2008, as a free download from the App Store, and is available to Android users as a free app in the Google Play store. Google also added the imagery from the Earth database to their web-based mapping software, Google Maps.

Uses

Google Earth is useful for many day-to-day and other purposes.

• Google Earth can be used to view areas subjected to widespread disasters if Google supplies up-to-date images. For example after the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake images of Haiti were made available on January 17.
• With Google’s push for the inclusion of Google Earth in the Classroom, teachers are adopting Google Earth in the classroom for lesson planning, such as teaching students geographical themes (location, culture, characteristics, human interaction, and movement) to creating mashups with other web applications such as Wikipedia.
• One can explore and place location bookmarks on the Moon, and Mars.
• One can also get directions using Google Earth, using variables such as street names, cities, and establishments.
• Google Earth can also function as a hub of knowledge, pertaining the users location. By enabling certain options, one can see the location of gas stations, restaurants, museums, and other public establishments in their area. Google Earth can also dot the map with links to images, YouTube videos, and Wikipedia articles relevant to the area being viewed.
• One can create custom image overlays for planning trips, hikes on handheld GPS units

Features

Wikipedia and Panoramio integration : In December 2006, Google Earth added a new layer called “Geographic Web” that includes integration with Wikipedia and Panoramio.

Flight simulator: In Google Earth v4.2 a flight simulator was included as a hidden feature. Starting with v4.3 it is no longer hidden. Initially the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Cirrus SR-22 were the only aircraft available, and they could be used with only a few airports.
Sky mode :Google Sky is a feature that was introduced in Google Earth 4.2 on August 22, 2007, and allows users to view stars and other celestial bodies.
Street View: Google Street View provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
Water and ocean: the Google Ocean feature allows users to zoom below the surface of the ocean and view the 3D bathymetry beneath the waves.
Historical Imagery :Historical Imagery allows users to traverse back in time and study earlier stages of any place. This feature allows research that require analysis of past records of various places.
Mars : Google Earth 5 includes a separate globe of the planet Mars, that can be viewed and analysed for research purposes. There are many high resolution panoramic images from various Mars landers, such as the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that can be viewed in a similar way to Google Street View.
Moon the Google Earth version of Google Moon, which allows users to view satellite images of the Moon.
v Operating System: Windows, Linux
v License:- GPL
v Web Site:- (http://www.google.com/earth/index.html)