Mars Globe, a new 3D app for iPhone and iPod Touch Options

[mhoward]

I've posted plenty of free stuff on UMSF over the years, so hopefully I get a pass for a little promotion, particularly for something you might like. My new iPhone and iPod Touch app Mars Globe just became available on the iTunes App Store. It's a 3D globe of Mars that you can play with using multi-touch navigation. Check out the YouTube video to get an idea what it's like.

I think this app occupies an interesting middle ground between entertainment and educational outreach. The graphics and 3D touch navigation are slick enough, I hope, to interest some people who normally wouldn't bother with a 'science' app. But there's a lot of good solid information in there as well, which people will find if they explore. My hope is that some new people will download this and learn something that they otherwise might not have, about Mars and the amazing work that scientists and engineers do to study it. I certainly learned a lot about Mars while putting the thing together. But mainly, I hope people just enjoy the app. I wrote it because I wanted one. (Although IIRC, I had to be talked into it a little bit. UMSF Doug was instrumental there.)

I'm keeping the price of the app low, in the hope that it can reach as many people as possible. It's currrently 99 cents in the U.S.

Thanks to the admins here, who put up with a lot of behind-the-scenes griping on my part, and also pushed for a prettier app, in the long process of getting this thing done. And as it says in the credits, special thanks to our own Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society, who reviewed the content and made sure I didn't get my science facts too badly wrong. There's a lot of content, though, and where there are errors, I take full responsibility!

[mhoward]

P.S. Here's a few more or less random screenshots, showing the lighting effects. Of course, you should recognize one location, even without the labels.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[nprev]

All right...FINALLY a justification to buy an iPhone! That looks spectacular, Mike!

[ilbasso]

Great app! But why does the iTunes store list it as containing material that may be objectionable to people under age 17????

[mhoward]

Congrats! You're the first person to ask - but almost certainly not the last.

Apple is requiring any app that has a built in web browser with access to "unfiltered" content to be rated 17+. Their rating system is well-intentioned but poorly thought out. Apps that link to Wikipedia articles, for example, have to be rated 17+ for Frequent\Intense Mature Suggestive Themes, or worse. Very soon, I expect most frequent app purchasers will figure out that the rating system means nothing, but I still expect to get this question a lot. And of course, there will probably be negative comments, blaming the developer. But the choice was basically accept the ridiculous rating, or cripple the app. I chose the former, in the hope that Apple will eventually fix the problem.

On the positive side, I didn't realize the rating would look so hilarious over the decidedly non-controversial screenshots. Lol.

[mhoward]

One extra thing that's not mentioned in the promotional materials: It's a pretty nice little Rover clock. It uses the Mars24 algorithm.

[ilbasso]

Oh drat...I thought that perhaps as an Easter Egg, you had suggestive photos of Spirit's undercarriage or something sinister like that.

GREAT APP - AMAZING!!!

[elakdawalla]

I got an iPhone! I got an iPhone! I got an iPhone! I got an iPhone!


That is all.

-- Emily

P.S. Mars Globe ROCKS. It was, of course, the first app I installed. I love the way you can tilt the perspective to sight across the limb, and see the atmosphere, and set the globe spinning; and I love the way you can use a slider to make the sun rise and set on whatever point you're looking at; and I love having the rover clocks so easy to hand! Mike, you've done a public service here.

[mhoward]

That's AWESOME, Emily! I'm looking forward, I hope, to hearing your take on some of the science/astronomy apps out there. There aren't that many, but there are some.

One app I think is a must-have for you is Star Walk. There are several night sky apps for the iPhone, but Star Walk is the best, IMNSHO. You will see a little of the inspiration for Mars Globe there. At $5 it's "expensive" by app store standards but worth it.

[mhoward]

Not going to do a whole promotional thing this time, but if you liked Mars Globe, be aware that its sister (brother?) app is now available.

[elakdawalla]

Got my review written but am too tired to deal with the screen shots. I'll post it tomorrow, I hope.

--Emily

P.S. in fact I used Star Walk this evening to help point out Altair, Vega, and Deneb to Anahita. I'm trying to form a habit of going outside most evenings, now that it's dark before she goes to bed, to figure out what's up in the night sky.