World Wind in another School

[Guest_Jim_*]

The original World Wind in another classroom (http://forum.worldwindcentral.com/showthread.php?t=4785) was getting kind of long and this title will hopefully be more accurate.
So today I had an appointment to see the principal of my school to talk about World Wind and what the next step is in demonstrating it. This meeting went very well. The plan we came up with is to have two demonstrations on January 12 and a follow up on January 19. The reason for two on the twelfth is we want to show both the science teachers and social studies teachers. The nineteenth though wouldn't actually be a demonstration, students have of that day but teachers still come in to get some work done, what I would be doing then is have more of a question and answer session for any teacher that has them. Also the demonstration for the twelfth we're going to try to have a very nice presentation room we have at the school that would be perfectly suited for World Wind.
This plan may very well change by then, but with luck it won't.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Here are two pdf's I put together as invitations to the demonstration on Friday. I hope you like them.
WW PDF Sci.pdf (http://banjopho.be/worldwind/WW%20PDF%20Sci.pdf)(~11Mb)
WW PDF His.pdf (http://banjopho.be/worldwind/WW%20PDF%20His.pdf) (~5.1M
By the way, I had to have my brother put these up on his webspace because I can't access my space on Twobeds and the forum wouldn't let me put them up either. Any ideas why niether of them would work?

PS. The images on the first pages are shortcuts to the pages to deal more with that particular picture shows, just so you know.

[withak]

Nice summaries.

Twobeds has been gone for a while and the files are probably too big for forum attachments. I think 2bn.net is the current WW hosting/upload site, but it seems to be temporarily offline. Apparently it's not a good day for WW-related network connectivity. :)

If your brother wants them off his webspace then let me know and I can host them somewhere.

[5of0]

2bn is working for me now, anyway.

[woodse2]

It look fantastic!
Good variety of images. I do not think you need to specify which image sets are not in the original install.

I made a powerpoint for introducing the program to some other teachers at my school last year. The power point is at
http://www.worldwindclassroom.com/WorldWind/slideshows/worldwindforpublic2.ppt

You can use any of the stuff if it is usefull

[Guest_Jim_*]

You can use any of the stuff if it is usefull
I will definitely look at the power point once I have time.

If your brother wants them off his webspace then let me know and I can host them somewhere.
Thank you withak, my brother would appreciate that.

[withak]

http://banjopho.be/worldwind/WW PDF His.pdf
http://banjopho.be/worldwind/WW PDF Sci.pdf

You can edit those into your post.

[TomServo]

Hmm, some interesting information put together. Need to work more on the education sectiob of the WWC site.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Thank you withak, I've have changed the links in my post accordingly.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Will 1.4 be out by this Friday? I'm asking because I'm presenting then and would like to show that rather than 1.3.5. I could be 1.4 RC3 on the computer to demonstrate but it just wouldn't seem right to me to do that but still have 1.3.5 on any disks for the teachers to have.

[withak]

Unlikely. We are currently getting some issues straightened out with NASA for what exactly will be included in the default install.

[bull]

I don't think there will be any mayor differences between the next RC, which I will try and release soon and the final version, except the final will likely have less features.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Okay, I could always just install both 1.3.5 and 1.4 RC3 on the computer that I'll use for demonstrations, to show them what is yet to come.
Also, what features might be lost?

[withak]

Also, what features might be lost?

You don't want to know. :(

[Guest_Jim_*]

It look fantastic!
Good variety of images. I do not think you need to specify which image sets are not in the original install.

I made a powerpoint for introducing the program to some other teachers at my school last year. The power point is at
http://www.worldwindclassroom.com/WorldWind/slideshows/worldwindforpublic2.ppt

You can use any of the stuff if it is usefull
I finally got around to looking at your powerpoint woodse2 and I must say it is very nice. I will definitely have to keep it in mind during the demonstrations and I may indeed use it. Thank you for posting it.

[Guest_Jim_*]

You don't want to know. :( I might need to know because if I show 1.4 RC3 I have to be sure not to show what teachers won't have access to. If you'd rather others not know you could send me a private message or email.
Also, is the SDSS imagery open source like the NASA or USGS imagery? I want to make sure that teachers can use it in classes.

[bull]

Hmm good question I aways assumed it was PD, as for what will be left out, all features removed will be available as plugins from WWC so you can just put them on your cd, there is even talk I may make a custom build with everything included, but no-one seems to want to back me up :P

[withak]

The problem with a custom build is that NASA would probably make you strip out their name and logo.

It's not for sure yet what will and won't be included, but there are plans for quick-install feature in the works that may end up letting you add back in all those plugins with a single click of a link on a web page. :) Either way, there will probably be a package available so that you can get all the left-out plugins in a single batch.

[TomServo]

Nothing is really "lost" you can just go and download any plug-ins you may want.

[bull]

The problem with a custom build is that NASA would probably make you strip out their name and logo.

It would be easy to replace the splash screen with FEF logos etc. I just dont want to give people the extra hassle of downloading WW then having to download extra stuff, for people installing WW on just one pc its not too bad but for people installing on multiple pc's its gonna be a PITA.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Couldn't there just be two installers, one with all the features and one without or have them as options in the installers like the different add-ons? But we're not losing the sun shading or integrated web browser right, those I really want to show the teachers because they're so useful? Why would NASA want remove features?
Also, is the SDSS imagery and WMap imagery freely available so teachers can use it?

[PostFatal_]

The SDSS website lists World Wind as a tool for viewing their data so I would say you are fine.

http://www.sdss.org/education/

[bull]

Check out the dev list posts for reasons, http://mail.worldwindcentral.com/pipermail/worldwind-dev/

[Guest_Jim_*]

Check out the dev list posts for reasons, http://mail.worldwindcentral.com/pipermail/worldwind-dev/
What would I have to do to send in my suggestions as far as what should and shouldn't be left in? Just a thought, perhaps a pole here on the forums as to what should be kept would be useful. But you'd have to specify that the vote is for what's stable and scientifically important or augments World Wind's abilities (if the time controller includes the sun shading I say we keep it because of how it accentuates terrain so much).

[withak]

Stability and user-friendliness seem to be the main concerns.

Just overlook the fact that every previous release from NASA has had stability and user-friendliness issues; apparently NASA expects better from the OS community. ;)

[Guest_Jim_*]

Stability and user-friendliness seem to be the main concerns.
Yeah that's why I understand and agree with the decision to remove the Movie Recorder and VE plug-ins from the install. But the time controller, measure tool, and planetary rings should be kept in the installer (planetary rings doesn't really slow down World Wind and is useful for showing what the gas giants really look like).
Also, thanks PostFatal_ that's what I needed to know.

[woodse]

Check out the dev list posts for reasons, http://mail.worldwindcentral.com/pipermail/worldwind-dev/

For my classes I have found the measure tool essential and hope that does not go away.
The rest of the edits seem reasonable.

[withak]

But the time controller, measure tool, and planetary rings should be kept in the installer

Those will most likely stay.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Those will most likely stay.
That's good to know.
Now for a bug I found, this morning I put World Wind and several add-ons on to the computer I'll use for the demonstration. I put on both 1.3.5 and 1.4 RC3 planning on having the 1.4 look at the 1.3 folder for the cache and config files. When I tried this 1.4 would come up completely blank, no stars, no earth, no toolbar icons, nothing in the layer manager, no plug-ins in the plug-in menu, no other worlds to have it change to. 1.3.5 still ran fine but I have no idea what is up with 1.4. I tried moving everything to the 1.4 folder and having 1.3.5 look there and got the same result. Seems to me 1.4 doesn't like to share.

[James_In_Utah]

I have a Nasa\cache directory that I use for V1.3.5 and V1.4RC3 and it works for BMNG and Landsat. V1.4RC3 doesn't look to the cache directory for boundaries or placenames. Those have to stay in a cache directory under V1.4. I'd say that's a bug....

[withak]

Erase the .log file for 1.4 in your %appdata% and restart it. Then look at the new log and see if if tells you anything helpful.

I think 1.3.5 cache and config files should still work in 1.4. The only difference there would be that 1.4 is set up to download placenames and boundaries where 1.3.5 came with them pre-installed (this is why the 1.4 installer is ~20MB while 1.3.5 was ~60MB). It should still handle the old placenames and boundaries files though.

[withak]

I have a Nasa\cache directory that I use for V1.3.5 and V1.4RC3 and it works for BMNG and Landsat. V1.4RC3 doesn't look to the cache directory for boundaries or placenames. Those have to stay in a cache directory under V1.4. I'd say that's a bug....

In 1.4, the boundary layer is a plain QTS layer like landsat or usgs. There is nothing that would make WW treat those tiles differently than landsat or usgs tiles.

The WFS cache does appear to be a bug. It gets the cache location from the application dir instead of from settings. That may be a pain to fix. :-/

[James_In_Utah]

Maybe the boundaries did work. The placenames is not that big of a deal since you're not really saving that much space.
James

[withak]

Well it's still a bug, and even the kind that I know how to fix. :)

[Guest_Jim_*]

Erase the .log file for 1.4 in your %appdata% and restart it. Then look at the new log and see if if tells you anything helpful. Sorry, I forgot to mention that, I couldn't find an application data folder. This was on a school computer and maybe they don't want anybody to touch them?

I just tried to duplicate the problem on my computer by moving the config and data folders and nothing happened. I'm starting to think that the school's computer or how their network is setup is to blame.

[withak]

Well, if WW can't find its settings file in %appdata% at startup then it runs the configuration wizard. Does that happen every time? If not, then it's storing settings somewhere. :)

What happens when you put "%appdata%" in the start menu run dialog?

[Guest_Jim_*]

Well, if WW can't find its settings file in %appdata% at startup then it runs the configuration wizard. Does that happen every time? If not, then it's storing settings somewhere. :)
I think it is storing them in the application data folder, it's just that I couldn't get access to it. I know the file had to be somewhere because 1.3.5 still worked and the configuration wizard never popped up. Tommorrow I'll check the Alt-Q menu and see where World Wind says the files are.

What happens when you put "%appdata%" in the start menu run dialog?
I don't know what you mean by this.
I'll probably just reinstall 1.4 and have 1.3.5 look at its files (hopefully that'll fix it).

[withak]

Start -> Run -> type "%appdata%" without quotes. That should take you to you user application data directory where the settings go. It usually hidden so that is the easiest way to get to it.

If WW can write to it then you should be able to see it, I think.

[Guest_Jim_*]

I think I'll just reinstall 1.4 and have all the same files in both folders because chances are the application data folders were hidden, on purpose, from anyone but the school's techs. Trying to bypass that security measure could get me in a lot of trouble.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Is it all right if I add my two cents to the World Wind Central page of what is to be removed from 1.4, or is it meant for people to see what will be removed?

[withak]

Edit away, it's for opinions. :) Keep in mind that the usefulness of a particular plugin isn't the issue though. A useful plugin is bad for the base install if it is hard to use or unstable.

[James_In_Utah]

I'm actually glad they are talking about leaving the Virtual Earth stuff out. It's really neat, but it doesn't play well with others. I can't really tell when the thing is on or not. It doesn't seem to cache anything for me either. It's kind of disturbing to look up and see 15 red squares waiting for a download. I think the key would be to make it act more like the other image sets. Of course, once we get used to it MS will pull the plug...
James

[nlneilson]

Google uses Linux as the OS for most of its programming.
Will be interesting to see what wwj is written in, other than just java, and the OS.
MS can pull all the plugs it wants to.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1936562,00.html
... the thing is with open source and with Linux, we can control our own destiny. It's a very powerful position to be in.

TG: How much would it cost in licences if Google ran on Windows?

CD: We've never said how many machines we have, there are estimates out there but I'm not going to say if they're right or not, but you know, think of a big number, a big number, and then multiply that by $1,000 (£526) each for a copy of Windows Server. It's safe to say it would be hundreds of millions of dollars at least.

[nlneilson]

The location of the ww 'config' files makes it harder for this program to be used in schools. It's located in 'hidden' files like:
C:\Documents and Settings\Neilson\Application Data\NASA\World Wind\1.4.0.0
More schools would be able to use it with less hassles in:
C:\NASA\config\WorldWind\'user'\1.4.0.0
There are just 2 .xml, the log and the error files, why bury it under Documents and Settings\- - \- -?? because MS dictates it?
Also have C:\NASA\Cache for the cache.

Just one directory, NASA, COPIED to the hd, an icon linking to the .exe, and it should run if the .NET and other required files are on that computer.

[adamhill]

Because that is where 'per user' settings go. Each user at a computer gets a 'profile' created under "/Documents and Settings/<username>". So if you have 4 students logging into a computer each has his/her own settings for the apps they use.

[5of0]

OK. Being on a school network should not affect this - as has been said, if WW doesn't show the config wizard every time, it has access, which means you have access.
The folders are hidden, but that has nothing to do with being on a school network. Check your home computer, it's the same way. There are a couple ways to get there. The first (and easiest) is this:
1. Try Windows Key + R. If this brings up the run box, skip to step 4
2. Click Start
3. Click "Run"
4. Type "%appdata%" (without quotes, _with_ % signs)
5. Click "OK"

This should bring up your application data directory, and you can find stuff in there. The %appdata% is an environment variable that holds the location of the current user's Application Data directory.
For a more permanent solution, open any folder and select Tools->Folder Options->View tab, and check the "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide system files". Now, navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[username] and the Application Data and similar directories will show up, faded out, indicating they are hidden. You can go into them and whatnot.
As to why settings are stored there, it's like adamhill said - that's where stuff like this goes, so that multiple users can use the same program with different settings. Yes, we could put it in C:\Program Files\WW\[user], but that would be very hackish, and there are other problems (especially on a network) with that approach. By storing it %appdata%, Windows already takes care of those problems with all kinds of protections and methods that are invisible to the program and user to make sure stuff doesn't get messed up.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Well I presented today and fortunately figured out why it 1.4 kept giving a blank screen, the xsd files. 1.3.5 and 1.4 have different xsd files (they are in the config folder and config/earth folder) and 1.4 apparently can't use any copies other than its own. Also, what has happened to the Mississippi imagery in the Katrina Imagery add-on? I tried to show it to the teachers but that imageset wasn't available, here's the details.

Start time: 1/12/2007 4:34:29 PM
Total download time: 00:00:02.2187500
Average transfer rate: 0.0 kbit/s
Url: http://tileservice.worldwindcentral.org/?T=us.naip2004&L=0&X=31&Y=42
Target file: W:\World Wind\Cache\Earth\Katrina\Katrina Images\Mississippi Imagery\0\0042\0042_0031.jpg.tmp
Progress: 0/0 bytes
Status: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
Proxy: http://tileservice.worldwindcentral.org/?T=us.naip2004&L=0&X=31&Y=42

Response headers:
========================================


Anyway, some of you are probably wondering how the demonstrations went today. Unfortunately not all of the science teachers were able to make it, but those that did come seemed to like World Wind. The Social Studies department seemed to loved it, espcially the Military History teacher (he was detailing to some of the other teachers how he would use World Wind). The Flags of the World and Waving Flags were well recieved, as was the Katrina Imagery. Also, the terrain was really liked.
Well I definitetly think the Social Studies department liked, we plan on having another meeting for the science teachers so they all can come some time soon.

[Guest_Jim_*]

The folders are hidden, but that has nothing to do with being on a school network. Check your home computer, it's the same way.
Actually it does have to do with being on the school network because if the head of the LRC (thats who was logged in since me, being a student, can't install or access World Wind) then nobody but the techs would possibly have access. And I don't want to get in trouble who going around the "security" set-up for the computers.
By the way, the application data isn't hidden on my computer, but it doesn't really matter since I figured out what the problem was.

[nlneilson]

Because that is where 'per user' settings go.
Thanks for clarifying this. Would like to have DVD's made that a school or anyone else could install and run ww without problems.
Could the required .net and directX or direct3D files be put on the disks and installed from there? When downloading those there was an option for 'redistrituble' or something like that.
Just trying to make it as easy and trouble free as possible.

[5of0]

An installer could be created to read the files from a DVD/CD. And yes, they are available as redistributables.

[patmurris]

Talking about DVD packaged WW, i copied 3 giga bytes of cache to a DVD for a science teacher, and it appeared to be very long to copy it back on an other computer, probably because of Windows dealing with tens of thousands of little files from a slow device... I may have hit the wrong DVD reader or computer though but it would surely be more efficient to use a .zip container for the cache.

My two cents from a recent experience ;)

[bull]

Try copying a 20 gig cache using FTP ;) Archiving first is the best option, windows handles multiple small files really poorly.

[nlneilson]

For speed and portability if you will be doing it get a 2.5 in usb powered HD, its just a notebook HD with the necessary electronics, fits in your shirt pocket, it is faster than copying the cache to another dir, that takes reading and writing to the same disk. With an external HD one reads and the other writes, very fast.
edit: 1 gig in 5 min edit: from DVD 12 min
Think of the time it would take to download 3 gig with a high speed connection or a dialup, and moving the image to do it. The students whose parents can't justify the monthly charge for even a dialup would appreciate using the disks, could be checked out from the school library, just like a book.

[johnh]

performance using Windows file manager to copy large cache files is slow
xcopy is a major speedup
Start
Run
cmd
xcopy

(see help xcopy for assistance on syntax)
see
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/xcopy.mspx?mfr=true

cheers

[nlneilson]

Need a little more than just "xcopy" on the command line.

xcopy Source [Destination] [/w] [/p] [/c] [/v] [/q] [/f] [/l] [/g] [/d[:mm-dd-yyyy]] [/u] [/i] [/s [/e]] [/t] [/k] [/r] [/h] [{/a|/m}] [/n] [/o] [/x] [/exclude:file1[+[file2]][+[file3]] [{/y|/-y}] [/z]

'Source' is required. 'Destination' would be nice. Then the switches.
xcopy in an install app, .bat file or whatever, fine.
From the command line may lead to errors.

[Guest_Jim_*]

So yesterday was a professional day for the teachers at my school to get caught up in grading and I came in too so that I could put World Wind on the teachers computers, if they wanted it. I put it on nine computers and gave seven disks out to teachers with the World Wind installer, some add-ons, and several links. Of the seven teachers three were history teachers (two of them teach military history) and the other four were science (the astronomy and geoscience teacher, two geophysical teachers, and the AP chemistry teacher that I'm pretty sure also teaches earth science). I actually ended up spending more time at my school on my day off than I do when I have classes but I think it was worth it.
The next stage we have planned is to show the majority of the science department and I'd like to have students also come to a presentation since they are the ones that would have to learn from World Wind. I'll tell you more when I can.

[Guest_Jim_*]

But the time controller, measure tool, and planetary rings should be kept in the installer Those will most likely stay. Planetary rings wasn't included in RC5, is that a sign that it won't be included or that someone forgot about it?

[Guest_Jim_*]

I meant to post earlier about this but never got around to it, I have another presentation tomorrow at my school. This one is specifically for the geophysical science teachers. I plan on presenting with 1.4 RC5 and if the teachers don't need World Wind right away I'll try to hold off giving them discs so that they can have 1.4.
On Monday the beginning of another presentation will start. At my school we have a club that invites professionals in a field of science to come and tell us about what they do. Because I've wanted to show World Wind to students for a while (makes sense to me since they/we are the ones that will have too learn from it) the plan is to see if there is any interest in a presentation for them. If there is then I'll have another one coming up sometime that may last the entire day so that the students could come during free periods to see the new tool teachers have been and will be using.
All these demonstrations just gave me a funny idea, hey Tomservo if you read this, or anybody else that has been presenting World Wind to people, if you were to charge for these demonstrations how much would you cost and how much would you have made by now? I'm not suggesting that we make people pay, just if you did, what would the numbers be?

[bull]

Just a quick update, WMS with GLOBE will be back in the final, they fixed the server, other than that I think RC5 will be basically final. Planetary rings was left out because we still don't have Saturn up on a NASA server, I doubt it will be up for the final as they are working full time on WWJ at the moment.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Planetary rings was left out because we still don't have Saturn up on a NASA server, I doubt it will be up for the final as they are working full time on WWJ at the moment.
Well Jupiter uses it as well. The main reason I asked is because it just makes sense to me to include it and because I can't find version 1.1, which is what works with World Wind 1.4, anywhere, even though I have it.

[Guest_Jim_*]

First of all, the title may be misleading, I'm not presenting to the entire school, but any body in the school can come to one of four presentations I will be making on Wednesday. They are the result of getting some interest from that club I mentioned in post 54 (http://forum.worldwindcentral.com/showpost.php?p=41198&postcount=58). Only ten people in that club said they would be interested but, after making an announcement on the PA system (just one), I've heard from a teacher that some of her students were interested, and another teacher is planning on bringing her entire class! Unfortunately it is looking like we can't have an entire class come, the room is kind of small, but we are looking into relocating the presentations somewhere else. I wasn't able to talk to anybody about it today but I will probably suggest doing either special presentations for the one teacher's class, doing presentations for any teacher to bring their classes to, or having another day of presentations for anybody to come to in the larger room. By Wednesday there will have been three audio announcements and one video announcement for the presentation (not video from World Wind, just a mention during the announcements the broadcasting class does). Also, yesterday I put up twenty flyers about the presentations. I do plan on counting how many people come and will report back the number.
After this one I think I'll start focusing on getting World Wind on the computers in the school's library and getting it in other schools. Wish me luck.
Edit:
Almost forgot, if anybody is planning on doing a demonstration of World Wind I urge you to read what forum member woodse put together.
Using NASA World Wind to Create Interactive Lectures (http://www.worldwindclassroom.com/WorldWind/Journal/Worldwindlectures.htm)
Here is the thread about it World Wind as a Lecture Tool (http://forum.worldwindcentral.com/showthread.php?t=8866)

[Guest_Jim_*]

As I said I did keep count of how many people came to the presentations and the grand total was five. The presentations still went well, I think, but not that many people came to enjoy them. Perhaps I should try setting up presentations for teachers to bring their classes to? This is what I probably will be doing for the one teacher I mentioned in the last post but maybe I should invite any and all interested teachers to bring their classes.
Well that's it except I have two questions. One, why does the measure tool round differently in two different places? When I used it once it said something .3 in the gray box but on the line it said something .25. Just seems odd to me. Second, as I was presenting World Wind I would switch between different worlds without closing World Wind and that caused Sunlight Options in the tools menu to be duplicated multiple times. Is there anyway to stop that from happening.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Wow I thought I posted here about how I'm working on making World Wind accessible to students, guess not. I know it is somewhere on the forums.
Any way, the gears are turning and it sounds like I'm going to meet with the head tech for my school district about building another server for World Wind's cache. This should alleviate some issues, but there may still be some problems. Would it be possible for someone to make a patch for me in case there are still some problems? The only possible problem I know of, at the moment, is the one concerning the settings.txt file for the Blue Marble loader. I know this was fixed in the code but I have never been successful with compiling it. If necessary, could someone create a small patch with that fix?

[withak]

Patch to what? I don't think we've had much luck patching binaries. It ends up being simpler to just rebuild and drop the new binaries in on top of the old.

[James_In_Utah]

What he probably wants is just someone to build the new code and provide a zipped up download with the new .exe and any .dlls that are needed. Patches are not a good idea...

[Guest_Jim_*]

I could make a basic installer from a zipped folder with the dll's and exe, but I'm not sure if I'll need one yet.
This next part is kind of on topic: I remember reading that the Free Earth Foundation is going to start hosting daily builds. When will that start or, if it already has, where are the files?

[withak]

It's being worked on. I think the servers are some flavor of lunix, so they are trying to get a VM set up on one of them so that it can build windows stuff. :)

Or something like that.

[Guest_Jim_*]

We are at the point at my school that we will probably need that fix soon, so if anybody is willing to compile the code for me that would be very nice.
Also I have a question: why is it that we can change where the data files, cached files, and config files are for World Wind, but not the plug-ins? Is it possible to add that feature because that could prove very useful at schools. Because of how the plug-ins are used it could be very useful to be able to have their files anywhere, because it is the user's settings that state which are loaded. It could also be useful to have a set up like that for xml based add-ons, so that all of the layers are easily accessible without cluttering the layer manager. Also with that feature the xml files could be in one centralized location for networks, like at schools, instead of on each computer, which may have different files.
Just ideas, but I think I will need that fix to the Blue Marble plug-in soon (as in Monday or Tuesday).

[withak]

Every plugin handles that kind of stuff on its own. So the plugin authors have to remember to use locations from the settings or relative to the plugins .cs instead of locations relative to worldwind.exe.

I'll try to make a highly-unofficial test build .zip this weekend.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Every plugin handles that kind of stuff on its own. So the plugin authors have to remember to use locations from the settings or relative to the plugins .cs instead of locations relative to worldwind.exe.

I'll try to make a highly-unofficial test build .zip this weekend.
Thank you very much in advance for making that build for me.
I'm not sure if you understood what I meant with the plug-ins. If one goes to the Alt-Q menu they can change where the general config, cache, and data folders are, but not plug-ins. Is there a reason why there is no way to tell World Wind to look for plug-ins in another directory (e.g. on another drive)?

[withak]

I don't know.

[Guest_Jim_*]

withak, this is just a friendly reminder to please make a test build for my school, with the Blue Marble plug-in fix. If you wish I could send you my email address in a PM so you could send it straight to me.

[withak]

http://pneumatictu.be/WorldWind-r3773.zip

Unzip that on top of a 1.4 install. I have no idea if it will actually work. :)

[Guest_Jim_*]

I'll test it right away.

[Guest_Jim_*]

I've only found two bugs in it, but one is just cosmetic. The cosmetic one is Save Screenshot is below Exit in the File menu. I don't think this was an intentional change. The other I'm sure about what caused it, no images were being rendered. This happened after I loaded the Heavenly bodies plug-in and persisted until I just copied the WorldWind.xml file from the 1.4.0.0 folder over to the 1.4.0.1 folder.
Thank you very much withak.

[withak]

Save Screenshot is below Exit in the File menu

:eek: I blame what_nick.

[Guest_Jim_*]

I mentioned a few posts ago about having presentations for teachers to bring their classes. Well I've got another presentation coming up this week but it is for one particular teacher's class. This teacher really seems to like World Wind and wants to use me as an example to her students to show what other students can do and are doing. I've been told that the classes seem excited and want to see World Wind, so hopefully it'll go well. In any case though I will report back afterwards.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Sorry it has taken so long, but here is the report on how the presentations went: They went fairly well. If anybody did fall asleep, they know how to do it without anyone noticing. The computer was horrible, so World Wind ran very slow, but it did run. There isn't really much else, other than that they liked the Dinosaurs add-on. The day before is when I got everything I needed o finish it, so they saw it before anyone but me.
I'm going to have another set of presentations coming up for the Astronomy/Geology class. The teacher has a plan on how to work it into the lesson that day, and he said he has used it in class before. I'm pretty sure there are in the geology section now, so the SDSS imagery may not be used.
Slowly but surely I am changing the way teachers teach and students learn.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Well I had five presentations today, for the five astro/geo classes at my school. Not very many of the kids paid attention, which I can understand because school is almost over and the technical difficulties. The internet kept going down, coming back at "limited or no connectivity," then going down again roughly every second. This caused several issues with World Wind because of its issues with stopping things, such as downloads. For one of the classes I just disabled the internet to keep World Wind from getting so confused. There was another class though in which I had to restart World Wind around five times because of it no longer responding. But for that one class when the internet was up for more than one-eighth of a second things went well. I think I've gotten better at keeping kids attention as I just called out to a friend of mine in the class, who wasn't paying any attention, to tell me when his birthday was. I then put his birthday into the Historical Earthquake Query and showed him where the largest earthquake that day was. I asked another kid I know when his was and showed him. Then kids just told me there birthdays to look up. Seriously that has got to be one of the best plug-ins we have because it is so useful.
Over all I think they went well simply because when World Wind was running it was doing very well. When it wasn't running fine I couldn't expect it to run fine for some time. If the internet hadn't kept going do I could have shown them so much more because even with over three hundred add-ons you still need to have ready access to imagery and terrain (whether that be by internet or a very large cache) to keep people interested.