Since NASA World Wind (2004) and Google Earth (2005) brought the concept of a Virtual Globe into the general public’s consciousness, our concept of how to view the planet we live on has permanently changed. Similar to the way the internet changed the way we store, access and sort information, Virtual Globes are reshaping our perspective of how best to visualize geospatial data. One the key components of this evolution has been emergence of Keyhole MarkUp Language (KML) as the preferred code for adding and controlling content in these technologies. Now recognized by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) as an international standard, KML is now increasingly supported by a range of platforms, including Google Earth and Maps, NASA World Wind, ESRI ArcGIS Explorer and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and EarthBrowser.

The Virtual Globes at AGU session seeks to provide a forum for users to exchange ideas, promote concepts and demonstrate innovations using KML and/or globe and other geobrowser technologies.

Virtual Globes at AGU 2008