Ever wonder what it's like to be a bird? A new terrain visualization system called TerraVision II allows you to "fly" over the surface of the earth-via your computer screen. Okay, it's not exactly like being a bird. It might be better, in fact, since a bird can't overlay road maps and infrared imagery or click on an interesting building to pull up its Web site.

Researchers at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., created TerraVision II, a specialized World Wide Web browser, to navigate through representations of actual terrain based on U.S. Geological Survey elevation maps, aerial images and other information. Potential applications of the system include military planning and combating natural disasters such as forest fires.