One very interesting use of World Wind (version 1.3 released today) is to de-mystify a lot of the pseudo-scientific conjecture regarding the Aztec civilization.

I’d first heard of the Nazca Lines whilst skimming the first couple of chapters of an Erik von Dankenen book – apparently there are lines, symbols and geometric shapes that can be seen from space. Some more imaginitive speculation suggests that these are landing strips and signals for extra terrestrials.

Using World Wind it becomes apparent that these glyphs are really not very visible from space at all – because they’re not visible when photographed at a resolution where 1metre = 1 pixel.

Take for example the Nazca “Manos” figure: if you have a copy of worldwind, this link will take you to the appropriate geographic location to “see” it.

What you get, at an altitude of 6Km – a height not uncommon for a commercial airline – is some distinctly visible lines, but no detail on any glyphs.

As the source data improves it’s going to be possible to see more – to zoom in further and really investigate some of the most unspoiled areas of Earth.