OpenGL Terrain Generation - An Introduction by Vahe Karamian
Introduction NOTE: For the HTML version of this article with graphics and downloads please visit the following link: http://www.codeproject.com/opengl/OPENGLTG.asp I have always been interested in computer graphics and their applications. Data representation and visualization is one of the... // draw vertex 0 glColor3f(terrain[x][z][1]/255.0f, terrain[x][z][1]/255.0f, terrain[x][z][1]/255.0f); glTexCoord2f(0.0f, 0.0f); glVertex3f(terrain[x][z][0], terrain[x][z][1], terrain[x][z][2]); // draw vertex 1 glTexCoord2f(1.0f, 0.0f); glColor3f(terrain[x+1][z][1]/255.0f,...

Google Brings the Earth to Your Desktop by Ross MacIver
Google Inc. has launched a new software package that allows you to see satellite images on your desktop. Google Earth lets you search for locations anywhere on earth and display 3D aerial images of major cities and tourist attractions. Google Earth is in development, but a free beta version is... You can navigate using a mouse or the keyboard, and view selectable layers to display information about local features such as roads, terrain, schools or golf courses. ... Images of 38 US cities can be viewed from “the ground up” allowing you to see 3D representations of buildings and terrain.

Explore the Earth from Home by Jesse Somer
I was over at a friend’s house the other day and on his computer he showed me his own house as viewed by a satellite in Earth’s orbit. It was awesome. The screen started out looking at our great blue planet, then he typed in his house’s address (he had programmed it in, as only the USA, UK, and... Another neat aspect of the technology is that you can tilt and rotate the satellite’s view to give you a more 3-D perspective on buildings, mountains and landmarks on the terrain. ... With the ‘Measure’ tool you can see how far it is to the local airport or from Paris to London.

How To Make a Video Game - It's Free, and Not as Hard as You Think by Will Kalif
Video Game making has evolved dramatically over the past decade. It used to be a world filled with tedious hours of programming in a language like C. But today there are readily available tools that do all this programming work for you and allow you to focus on the creative task of building a... If your map has outdoor areas you will put in it the terrain features like mountains, rivers, bridges and building. ... After you have your overall map completed you can work down into the details. ... Inside this game world you place all of the inanimate objects whether they be outside terrain...

The Story Behind OpenSimcity by Brett Hull
I've always liked to play SimCity since I was little. I used to play the version for Super Nintendo for hours then and then. That version was really cool. It had 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn) and many landscapes, scenarios to choose between. ... Well there were more tools, advisers and a more advanced terrain (witch was crap because you couldn't build anything on it) but not anything special. ... The user can etc print out X (width) and Y (height) axis and get a map featuring whatever size he/she chose.