3D GIS, terrain visualization, and world building applications

Possible one of the most comprehensive listings of uses for virtual terrains (and terrain generators) is to be found at the Virtual Terrain Project:
» http://www.vterrain.org/Misc/Why.html
reproduced below:

• Virtual tourism & travel planning
• Education: geographical & general reference
  • example: the Virtual Field Course
• Planning: land planning / land usage, urban planning
• Civil engineering, telecommunications, utilities, and other infrastructure
• Visualization of weather and other environmental attributes
• Real Estate
  • example: Sense8 virtual real estate demo
• Diplomacy
  • example: pilots study virtual terrain in Bosnia
• Games and entertainment
• Communications: radio/TV/cellular transmitter placement and signal analysis
  • example: Radio Mobile
• Public participation in land management
  • example: Virtual reality solutions to coastal erosion - "application of VRGIS can stimulate meaningful discussion and dialogue between groups traditionally associated with conflicting opinions."
• The Israeli company Skyline has a good list of markets and applications for their Terra engine.
• Another Israeli company, GeoSim specializes in cities, with its own list of Solutions: Urban Infrastructure, Tourism/Travel, Real Estate, Security/Defense, Entertainment, Media/Advertising
• Small areas of virtual terrain are called "Digital Terrain Modeling" by professionals in the civil engineering, landscaping, surveying and construction industries
• The Defense Industry has always recognized the importance of virtual terrain.
  • they use terms like "Automatic Population of Geospatial Databases"
  • the line between military and entertainment is blurring, e.g. the Open Skies system claims to "show great promise as an actual training system as well as a unique and exciting game."

TerraSource
an extensive listing of 3D landscape programs, Terragen plug-ins, DEMs, etc
» http://www.terrasource.net/#workwith
[Link verified and viewed 13 March 2007]

The Virtual Terrain Project is an excellent general resource for "tools for easily constructing any part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form".
» http://www.vterrain.org
Their 'Artificial Terrain Tools & Software Packages' page offers a good listing of 3D terrain generators and tools
» http://www.vterrain.org/Packages/Artificial/index.html
[Link verified and viewed 13 March 2007]

Bakhter.com
another good listing of 3D terrain generators
» http://www.bakhter.com/html/3d/terrain_generators.html
[Link verified and viewed 13 March 2007]

Open Source Geospatial Foundation
"The Open Source Geospatial Foundation has been created to support and build the highest-quality open source geospatial software. The foundation's goal is to encourage the use and collaborative development of community-led projects. This website serves as a portal for users and developers to share their ideas and contribute to project development."
» https://www.osgeo.org
[Link verified and viewed 12 March 2007]

FreeGIS Database
a database of free software
» http://www.freegis.org/database/
[Link verified and viewed 12 March 2007]