NASA World Wind (Warning: Don't read this post)

You had to go and read it, didn't you.

Today I got a link to an application I had been hoping to write, someday. Take various sources of imagery of the earth (landsat, topo maps, USGS aerial, etc.) Add in elevation data from the Shuttle synthetic aperture radar mapping mission. Serve it all up in an interfact using DirectX. Enjoy.

It's incredibly cool. I navigated to some of the ski areas where I go, and was able to rotate the mountain views around. Has to be seen to be believed.

Oh, and it's written in C# using managed DirectX.