Google Earth combines satellite imagery, geographic data and Google's search capabilities to create a virtual globe application that is freely downloadable. Google Earth provides effortless and stunning 3-D visualization of spatial datasets with fast zoom-and-click Earth browsing capabilities.

Visualization is just one aspect of GIS however. For more detailed analysis of geospatial data, ERSI offers a free software package for K-12 educators called ArcExplorer-Java Edition for Education (AEJEE) a free, downloadable, lightweight tool for exploring geographic data.  AEJEE is available for both Windows-based and Macinstosh OS X-based computers, and can save and open projects so work can be shared between users or between home and school.

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