Earth 3D Model in 130,000 Triangles by GlobeMaker

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

The Earth 3D model is in .stl format with about 130,080 triangles. The file size is 6 Megabytes for the "out" side of the globe shell. The inside file is 1/4 inch smaller in diameter than the 5.5 inch outside of the Earth Crust Gobe. The exaggeration factor is 200x for mountain heights and seafloor depths.
The last 5 images are for a different Earth Globe without seafloor visible.
The Earth model is from a digital database called ETOPO2 using the Smith-Sandwell Report on bathymetric details.
The photograph is of a similar globe I made using stereolithography in 2004. The 6 megabyte file has the land mountains added to the seafloor that is shown in the photo.
Data Sources:
Smith & Sandwell
The "Smith & Sandwell" database is a worldwide set of 2-minute gridded ocean bathymetry derived from 1978 satellite radar altimetry of the sea surface
GLOBE
The "Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation" (GLOBE) database is made up of data sets from more than eight US and foreign agencies. It covers all of the world's land masses at a resolution of 0.5 minute (30") of latitude and longitude, which is approximately one kilometer at the equator.
IBCAO
The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) initiative developed a digital database that contains all available bathymetric data north of 64 degrees North. The version contained in ETOPO2v2 is 1.0, sampled to 2' cell averages. 
NGDC Coastal Relief Model (CRM)
The Coastal Relief Model (CRM) is used for US waters from the coastline to as far offshore as the NOS hydrographic data will support a continuous view of the seafloor. Data were sampled to 2' cell averages for areas adjacent to all 48 conterminous states, Hawaii, and NGDC Great Lakes Bathymetric Data
Great Lakes bathymetric data were sampled to 2' cell averages for all five Great Lakes. 3" source grids were available for lakes Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario; preliminary 30" grid data were sampled for Lake Superior. All lake depth data were made consistent with surrounding land elevations and each lake's mean level datum.