Everyone likes to travel, well, a vast majority. While some do it to rest and escape from the daily routine, others do it to get to know new cultures or enjoy the country’s cuisine. However, it is not within the reach of everyone, since when we leave Spain, the price of the trips rises considerably. Fortunately, there is no need to spend money on travel, as long as we settle for visiting other countries without leaving home using the right tools.
If we talk about traveling around Planet Earth without leaving home, the most popular and used solution is the one offered by Google Earth, however, it is not the only one. If you want to know all the ways we have to travel without leaving home, we invite you to continue reading.
Google Earth
As we have mentioned above, Google Earth is the most widely used platform in the world to visit any corner of the planet without leaving home. In addition, it includes a series of guided tours that allow us to discover known areas, but with a different view than what we are used to, as well as the effects of climate change on planet earth, images of energy sources, urban expansions, the most emblematic national parks among many other options through the Voyager option from where we can also access web pages focused on these activities.
Google Earth works through an application that we can download from this link. a much more complete version that allows us to access much more information than using a web browser. But, in addition, we can also access this platform using any browser from here. It is also available for iOS and Android mobile devices.
Google StreetView
Another interesting option that Google also makes available to us without leaving home is Street View. As its name well describes, this platform sees us, at street level, most of the cities and towns on the planet. In addition, it allows us to modify the view to be able to focus on the details that interest us the most.
The images available on this platform not only correspond to roads, but also to pedestrian areas, so it is one of the best options to visit any city in the world, but it is not a good option to see certain areas of the planet where this does not reach service since that’s what Google Earth is for. Google Street View is available from this websitethe website of google maps and from the applications for iOS and Android mobile devices.
NASA WorldWind
An interesting alternative to Google Earth is found in NASA WorldWind. NASA WorldWind is a platform of the American space agency with which we can visit any place on the planet and access the history of changes to monitor weather patterns, evolution of cities, track vehicle movements, analyze geospatial data, among others, and whose main purpose is the to educate humanity on Earth.
This NASA project is from Open Source And anyone who wants to can implement it on their website or incorporate it into applications for Windows, macOS, Linux or iOS and Android mobile devices, allowing developers to create their own application using the information from this body. To access NASA WorldWind we just have to visit the following link and click on Explore a WorldWind demo.
Wikimapia
Wikimapia is an interesting option that we also have at our disposal to visit any part of the world without leaving home. This platform uses images from Google, Bing and Yahoo! to show any part of the planet, together with additional information that is not shown in the solutions of these platforms. Behind this alternative to Google Earth there is a large community of users who actively collaborate by adding information. It is not necessary to register to be able to use it and it is available from this link.
FatMap
This website is one more option to consider if we are looking for an alternative to Google Earth. This website allows us to see any corner of the planet in 3D and 2D and is focused on users who want to go hiking, cycling or even mountaineering. To access this platform you need to register. We can try FatMap this website for 7 days completely free of charge. If we want to continue using it, we will have to pay an annual subscription of 30 euros.
