Visiting Eartha
My wife and I took a 10th-anniversary trip (sans kids, thanks Mom & Dad!) to Portland, ME, and while there visited Eartha, the world’s largest rotating globe. Built at Delorme’s (now Garmin) headquarters in Yarmouth, just a few minutes north on I-295 from Portland, the globe is just over 41 feet in diameter and is printed with shaded relief and depth.
We watched from all three stories of viewing platforms for more than a day…but of course a day on Eartha (one full rotation) only takes 18 minutes.
While in Portland we also visited the Osher Map Library on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine. I am a lucky guy! The library has an awesome display of rare terrestrial and celestial globes, and many of them have been imaged for 3D viewing online. If you go, ask to see the displays, which are otherwise kept behind curtains to protect the globes from light.