NASA World Wind and Blue Marble Next Generation

     Support for the Blue Marble Next Generation (BMNG) has been introduced to World Wind version 1.3.3 (October 2005). BMNG is a considerable enhancement over the previous version of Blue Marble data by offering higher resolution, and having data for every month of the year. There are three different views offered by NASA World Wind; The original Blue Marble, Blue Marble Next Generation, and Blue Marble Next Generation with topographic & bathymetric shading.

     For more information on Blue Marble Next Generation, please see the NASA Earth Observatory website on BMNG (link).

How to use Blue Marble Next Generation

     The BMNG with topographic and bathymetric shading is now the default data set used by World Wind 1.3.3. It will also set the default month to the computer clock. You can choose a different month and layer by using the NASA Blue Marble panel. Select the earth icon located 4th from the left hand side.

     The BMNG control panel will appear. The top pull down menu will allow you to choose certain layers. The slider bar on the bottom will allow you to choose a month. Note the original Blue Marble data set does not have monthly data.

Blue Marble Next Generation
with topographic & bathymetric shading

Blue Marble Next Generation

Original Blue Marble