The GEOpod is an interactive application that allows a user to navigate through a 3-D volume of observations, radar imagery, or gridded fields generated by a numerical weather prediction system (e.g. GFS, WRF, NAM). As such, GEOpod is authentic and physically consistent, not a simulation. The project significantly leverages the Unidata Program Center's open source Java-based visualization software, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), and its Internet Data Distribution (IDD) system and Local Data Manager (LDM), to import data in rendering a 3-D environment, which serves as an exploration platform for the GEOpod. Key features of the GEOpod include the GEOpod interface; customizable display panel with drag-and-drop capability for up to 19 user-selected meteorological variables; user guided navigation with optional WII® controller capability or lock-on with smooth auto-pilot functionality allowing users to track an isosurface with high fidelity; integration of Google map technology for both forward and reverse geocoding – users can fly to a specified location in GEOpod or ground-truth their location; actuating particle imaging (snow crystals, liquid droplets) and vertical profiling (dropsonde) virtual devices; auto-build and replay of IDV bundles; Web-based mission builder for user/instructor defined missions; flight recorder for evaluation and assessment; point-of-interest annotation; and learning objectives and assessment. This presentation will demonstrate the GEOpod interface, its features and functionality, and provide results of a comprehensive usability study. This project is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF-IIS 0835411).