				WinGlobe 1.0
		    program and data (c) Dirk Djuga 1998


WinGlobe is Shareware "classic style".
You have to pay for it only if you like it.
If you launch it with great reluctancy each time :o^...you need not pay.
It's also free for educational institutions.
To pay send $15 or equivalent in your currency, cash or check, to

Dirk Djuga
Johannesstr. 9a
D-70176 Stuttgart

Let me know about wrong data like time, population, any missing major cities or wrong names.

DESCRIPTION:

WinGlobe is just that: a tiny earth that sits on your desktop. While it does so it can 
show the names of countries and major cities (2761 currently). It knows the population 
and the current local time of each city. It also shows whether it is day or night.


IMPORTANT: WARRANTY DISCLAIMER
The author makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including any warranties of 
fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will the author be liable for any incidental 
or consequential damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, this program.

In particular you must NOT assume that the data shown is always accurate!


DISTRIBUTION:

You can copy WinGlobe freely and pass it around for free, as long as this file is included.

WinGlobe may not be distributed as part of or for use with a commercial product without 
written permission by the author.

You have permission to include WinGlobe in a commercial Shareware CDROM or other collection, 
together with other software, as long as the presence of WinGlobe is not the main selling 
argument.

If you include WinGlobe in any such package (Shareware-CDROM or otherwise) please 
keep me informed.


FEATURES:

It starts off as a tiny globe. You can make it smaller or larger by dragging it's edge with 
the mouse. To move it around grab it in the middle (where the cursor changes to a cross of 
arrows) To make the earth turn click on the spot where you want to go. It will center on that
spot and show the local time on the taskbar.
If you let the mouse rest it shows the city that is next to the cursor and the local time
there.

Right click on a spot to get a menu. Choose "Location..." to get a window with the full 
description of the location. You can also search for a location there, based on the latitude/
longitude or a country's or city's name. It will search whenever you leave a field or click a
"binocular" button. It also shows the distance between the current and the previous location, 
as the crow flies. Push "Go there!" or [Return] to spin the globe to the shown location.

Choose "Show..." in the menu to choose the features to be displayed. You can display a 
lat/lon grid, country names, city names and marks for the cities. While "day and night" is
checked, the globe is lit according to the real sun position. Uncheck it to get a sun that is 
always over your left shoulder, if you want to see something on the night side of the earth. 

About time:

Maybe you didn't know, time is a political thing. Where there are no watches, there 
is no time. Maybe you think there is a place on the internet or in your city library where 
you can look up the current time in any spot on earth. You can't. It works like this: The
president of Taka-Tuka announces on May 21st 1998 that henceforth the country of Taka-Tuka 
is divided into 24 time zones, based on the 24 local pubs. And that on each 3rd 
Sunday of December, at 2:57 AM, the clock is turned back to the president's wife's birthday. 
So to know the current time of a spot in Taka-Tuka you have to drink a beer in each of the 
24 local pubs and give a birthday present to the first lady (she prefers shoes). 

I've been there, did that, and so I believe that WinGlobe has the most comprehensive time 
information available. Please tell me at winglobe@solaris.stuttgart.netsurf.de when you find 
a time that is off, so that I can correct it.

About the earh that WinGlobe shows:

The earth image was composed of data that can be found on the internet. The "relief" look 
is based on true elevation data you can find in a database called "Etopo5". It is of course 
drawn exaggerated, and with a fixed sun position. Not even the Himalaya would give any 
impression of height if seen from space, and if you light it from where the true sun is, you 
see a bump instead of a mound (a psychologic thing). The color of the sea indicates depth, 
which is also based on this database. 

The green vegetation is based on "advanced high resolution radar" satellite images that are 
available at the USGS (US Geographical Survey), mediated over 4 months of the years 95 and 96. 
So if you would expect to see more jungle or something... this is truely what is left of it.
Sad.

The snow is totally bogus, thrown in because you would expect to see some snow & ice... based 
on latitude and elevation. Everyone knows that the north pole is mostly ice covered, but in 
WinGlobe you can see some water up there. I decided not to simply draw in a "true" north pole
ice cap (haven't been there anyway...) 

About the rest:

Latitude and longitude in WinGlobe is in "computer style" format. it extends from -180° (West)
to +180° (East), and -90° (South) to 90° (North) and currently takes no minutes and seconds,
only degrees with a decimal point.
Population counts are based on dated data, usually around 1996, but I have gone to some 
lengths to supply new data for countries like the ones that dropped off the former Soviet 
Union. Anyway consider these rough estimates.
Names are usually the English version, or the English spelling of the local version.
If you know a more accurate population count for a place, or find the name or country that is 
assigned to a city to be grossly annoying (eg. I guess there's some "Lhasa (China)"...), 

mail Dirk at WinGlobe@solaris.stuttgart.netsurf.de

