• World's first atlas of the earth entirely in 3D-topography
• Easy, free navigation, zooming, and rotation
• Cartographic, topographic, political, and geophysical maps
• Covers origin of the earth, tectonics, volcanoes, weather, and more
• Extensive encyclopedia about countries; bonus map of the moon

National Geographic Presents 3D Globe lets explorers discover the intricacy of our planet, through multiple perspectives. This powerful 2-CD set harnesses virtual technology to link thousands of satellite photos, rendering them into a detailed 3D globe. Zoom and rotate the globe for closer looks at the places you've always wanted to visit!

Customer Rating:
Summary: This Is Quite Good
Comment: And it gets better as you become more adept at scrolling through the globe/map. For what it is - and be perfectly clear: it's just what it says it is: a 3D Globe - it allows for a considerable range of information. There's also text about countries and so forth; but the text is extremely limited in that it gives very little geographical data about the countries (such as highest and lowest points and average height). Also, the topography is not as good or as detailed as on a regular atlas (e.g.,it gives no indication of relative heights of mountain ranges). When using the software, it helps to also have an encyclopedia open so as to toggle back and forth to get the kind of detailed information that 3D Globe doesn't have. I'd have given this software only three stars except I have a feeling it's about as good as any other of its kind on the market (which, presumably, isn't a huge market anyway). All in all, it's worth the price.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: So - So
Comment: I bought this software because I teach a class on Geography. National Geographic is well known for producing excellent maps, however with this product I was a bit disappointed. The drawbacks are many, and include not being able to zoom in very far to observe details, regions within countries are not named, nor is there a display option to show them, political maps do not show state, or any other internal political boundaries within countries. Overall, it has some good uses, but I find myself still accessing google earth more often than this software.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Won 'em over
Comment: I gave this as a gift in the Fall to a very paper-oriented individual . .they wanted a real globe or update Atlas. They were skeptical, but were quickly won over by this product. I thank the other reviewers who shared their objectivity, and together we've "dragged" a software skeptic into the world of "stronger" globe options!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Why is 3D Globe so good?
Comment: 3D Globe doesn't seem to DO anything much. Click on a city name and it does nothing. Click on ANYTHING and it does nothing. It doesn't even zoom closer than a standard state highway map. So the globe rotates and shows night and day... and you can look up cities and countries. You can do that with an encyclopedia. By comparison, Encarta is a thrill ride IMHO.

To me this software performs like something from the $1.00 CD clearance rack.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 3D Globe review
Comment: This product is as advertised by National Geographic.3D Globe is very much an atlas in digital form. 3D Globe provides the user with the ability to navigate around the world, with the option of selecting specific countries and researching statistics of every kind on the selected nation,including its history. The navigation tools that are afforded to the user permit the user to acquire closeup views of national boundaries, regions, states, and cities within countries. Additionally, 3D Globe provides the researcher with tools to examine ecological regions that occupy the world as well as climate patterns. A user, for example, can locate volcanoes, deserts, continental drift patterns, mountain ranges, etc... 3D Globe also has an excellent Moon feature. When selected, the Moon feature provides the viewer with a completely mapped out view of the Moon that can be navigated as the world can be navigated in the Globe views. This is an excellent learning tool for children, students, and the entire family. 3D Globe can be used as a digital reference source for research or just for fun! I highly recommend this product as a supplement to an atlas or as an atlas replacement.

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