New in Wolfram Mathematica 7: Current & Historical Weather Data  previous | next 
Construct a Globe Showing All Weather Stations
Globe showing weather station locations throughout the world.
In[1]:=

Click for copyable input
map = Join @@ ((List @@ First@CountryData[#, "Polygon"]) & /@ 

     CountryData[]);
In[2]:=

Click for copyable input
coordsToXYZ[list_] := 

  Transpose[{Cos[#[[1]]]*Cos[#[[2]]], Cos[#[[1]]]*Sin[#[[2]]], 

      Sin[#[[1]]]} &@Reverse@Transpose[list*Pi/180.]];
In[3]:=

Click for copyable input
stations = WeatherData[];
In[4]:=

Click for copyable input
coords = coordsToXYZ[{WeatherData[#, "Longitude"], 

      WeatherData[#, "Latitude"]} & /@ stations];
In[5]:=

Click for copyable input
globe = First@

   ParametricPlot3D[.99* {Sin[u] Sin[v], Cos[u] Sin[v], 

      Cos[v]}, {u, -\[Pi], \[Pi]}, {v, -\[Pi], \[Pi]}, 

    MaxRecursion -> 4, Axes -> None, PlotStyle -> Opacity[.5]];
In[6]:=

Click for copyable input
Graphics3D[{globe, Black, Line /@ coordsToXYZ /@ map , Red, 

  Point@coords}, Boxed -> False, ImageSize -> Medium, 

 Lighting -> "Neutral"]
Out[6]=