Eartha Global Explorer DVD

by Delorme Mapping

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002S9G4
• Item model number: AO-001588-201
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 10, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,399 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #67 in Software > Education & Reference > Geography
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Eartha Global Explorer DVD is a terrific way to literally see the entire world, but only if your computer hardware is up to task. Contained on this single DVD is a 3-D representation of earth that can be rotated, zoomed in on, and viewed from any angle. Major cities, roads, and points of interest are also depicted, and somehow there was still enough room left on the DVD to include audio descriptions of most place names and attractions on the maps. Best of all, it's dirt cheap.

DeLorme touts the software's ability to plot a course anywhere on earth, but we imagine few people would trust a product like this with their global vacation plans. The real draw of the software is its detailed 3-D view of the world, based on satellite imagery. It's easy to see the topographical features of, say, Costa Rica from a straight top-down view, but Eartha Global Explorer let us drop our altitude, change the viewing angle, and see the 3-D terrain from perspectives that we'd never be able to view from the real world.

The interface makes it easy to zip over the terrain and whirl around to change your viewpoint, but smooth performance requires a fast computer processor and a beefy video accelerator card. The program allows for software rendering, where your computer's CPU shoulders most of the graphics-crunching load, but it is worthless. Without an appropriate DirectX-compatible video accelerator, the maps look bad and are impossible to accurately rotate; the graphics simply can't keep up with your inputs. If you have a cutting-edge PC, however, Eartha Global Explorer is an educational toy that anyone interested in geography will enjoy. --T. Byrl Baker

Amazon.com Product Description

Eartha Global Explorer DVD features amazing shaded relief maps for the entire world. Plus, you can see it all in 3-D. Soar over the North Pole, navigate through the Fjords of Norway--go anywhere you want. Plan a global trip--selecting from rail, air, or land-ferry routes--and the program will calculate your route. You can activate Floyd, an animated travel agent featuring Agent Technology, who will read to you the points of interest on the map. You can zoom in eight levels of magnification and see major and secondary roads.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, for the price, September 14, 2004

By 

John K. Johnson "kendall368" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eartha Global Explorer DVD (CD-ROM)

We used this product to navigate a small plane 9,000 miles throughout the US and the Caribbean (Bahamas, Trinidad, ABC's, & home). Extremely helpful. Helped in pre-flight planning, primarily. Provides great circle distances between airports, as well as tourist info along the route. One draw back, we couldn't figure out how to load it onto our hard disk, so had to use the CD version, which required an external CD reader. That problem could be overcome by a computer whiz, no doubt. One can hook a cheap GPS to it to provide real-time position info.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is excellent !!!, August 29, 2004

By 

Rod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eartha Global Explorer DVD (CD-ROM)

Eartha Global Explorer never took off because
back when it was released nobody's pc had the
hardware power to run it at its best.
Today on my P4, it is absolutely fabulous!!!
Just think about it, a single dvd with the entire
world, in high resolution, also containing
the major roads of every country. Amazing!!!

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Global Explorer falls short on details, June 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Eartha Global Explorer DVD (CD-ROM)

It's impressive list of features may not work on every machine. Although I was initially amazed at the 3D map of the world, the 2D travel routing never functioned on my machine despite repeated contact with tech support. I found their tech support personnel friendly and prompt to respond to email, but they were unable to help correct a problem with a DLL file that kept it from running on my system, even though my system is far superior to the minimum requirements. The DVD installed a version of MSJET35.DLL that the software refused to recognize.

The road maps are fine for city to city travel, but lack the street level detail available in many competing products. Due to the DLL file problem the guided tour and local information features would not work.

More detailed maps and travel instructions are available through web based travel routing sites.