Autodesk InfraWorks

[#1]

I know it uses a tin surface, which cannot wrap under itself, but if I choose a coordinate system like UTM 11, will it drape that surface around a globe? (like google earth)

any suggestions on tools that can do that besides google earth?

I have arcscene and manifold gis progs, just never cared about the effects of earth curvature on what  given viewpoint can see.

[#2]

The two that come to mind are ossimPlanet and WorldWind (though I don't know WW really much at all).  ossimPlanet is totally built on a global model and can do some great stuff.  You'll probably want to extend it further for your particular solution but it might be more inspiring than google earth at this point.

Enjoy!

http://trac.osgeo.org/ossim/wiki/OssimPlanet

http://download.osgeo.org/ossim/installers/

[#3]

Yes, AIM supports the earth curvature automatically...

[#4]

what do you mean by support though? Does it always use a "foundation" of a globe?

I would think it depends on the models coordinate system, projected or a non-projected system.

Another interesting issue is atmospheric diffraction, which I heard usually takes away about 1/2 the effect of curved earth.

So you see over the horizon a bit as light follows the earth. Now that would be an impressive model!

[#5 · Accepted solution]

AIM requires you to correctly geo-reference your model and based on that can support the earth curvature automatically for all projects... just make them large enough and you will see...

About the atmospheric diffraction you mentioned: I would not expect that in the very near future... :-)

[#6]

I will try using UTM or something

[#7]

Totally off topic from AIM, but I forgot to mention, depending on capabilities you need or real-time spatial dynamics, you might also be interested in http://cesium.agi.com/ 

[#8]

Hello

If you choose an UTM zone you will restrict your model extend to the valid extend of that specific UTM zone. To work in a world context, it is best to use a worldwide valid coordinate system (CS). Therefore I would recommend not to change the database CS as LL84 is worldwide valid.

You will not gain anything by changing the database CS and you can still change the display of the coordinates any time by modifying the User Coordinate System.

Heiko

[#9]

ah, thanks for the tip.

I tend to use CA state plane zone 6 prettymuch all the time, so am less educated on the "global" coordinate systems other than figuring out which one is used by a given chunk of data.

[#10]

Here's an example of AIM showing curvature of the earth:

http://screencast.com/t/xqXvIZxULN