Google Earth and 3D worlds
You bookmark places at Tagzania, then you visualize them in other platforms... And 3D renderings of Planet Earth are among the new tools in which you can see geography these days. Google Earth is perhaps the most widely known of these tools, but there are others, as Windows Live 3D Maps, NASA's Worldwind and Norkart's Virtual Globe
Google Earth is a program that has both pro and free versions for Mac, PC and Linux. Learn more and download here. The key to access Google Earth from Tagzania are the KML orange signs. If you select a tag's KML file, a user's KML file, or a combination of both, that will work as a dymanic subscription: as more locations are added with that tag or that user keeps tagging or editing places, you will not need to download any KML files again: the locations will be automatically updated when you use Google Earth. KML files of single locations are different: they are one-time downloads, not subscriptions. After downloading, you may choose to keep the location on your Google Earth instance or not, but the information will not be linked to Tagzania on the net. If that location's owner deletes that item, it will be still on your client application. BTW, we have produced another kind of KML files for a commisioned work: 3D models of Spanish architecture, in exposition in the Venice Architecture Biennale, 2006.Google Earth
Windows Live Search Maps
Windows Live is a platform of web services offered by Microsoft. They have a mapping product there, integrated with search. There are aerial and roadmap views, as well as 3D renderings, but only if you install a plug-in that works just for Internet Explorer on Windows.
(Non-US web users may have difficulties installing that plug-in: you have to go to the control panel of your PC, and in regional and language settings, choose English (USA) as the language, and US as the location. Then run the plug-in and see Live.com in 3D. You can go back to the control panel and reset the previous regional settings: the plug-in won't uninstall.)
To see places bookmarked in Tagzania, go to an individual item page, and below the map, you'll see a section with 3D links: the Live.com link will bring you to a 3D view of that area. Try from Los Angeles, for instance, see the link below the map, and clicking there, you will land here in Live.com, with buildings in 3D even. Mac or Linux users, as well Windows users with Firefox, may click on those links, and they'll also get a glimpse of Live.com: not 3D renderings, but useful maps, and, in certain cities, interesting close birdeye views.
Moreover, if you fly around Live.com, and get a certain particular interesting 3D view of some place, you can bookmark it with the Tagzai Win Live 2 bookmarklet. You'll get the place tagged at your Tagzania account, and the precise viewpoint you had at Live.com will also be saved as a link.
NASA Worlwind
NASA's World Wind is a fine free program that renders tri-dimensional views of the Earth, the Moon and Mars. It only works on Windows PCs. If you have World Wind installed, the link below the map of individual items in Tagzania will open World Wind and you will fly there.
Virtual Globe
Virtual Globe is a light and nice Java application that uses SRTM elevation data and Landsat 7 satellite images from NASA.