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Microsoft Virtual Earth Gets Massive Imagery Update

Doug Caverly — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:50:34 +0000

Earlier this week, Al Gore, Jimmy Buffet, and a famous oceanographer came together to announce a Google Earth update. Don’t look for the same level of hubbub here, but Microsoft’s now taking its own impressive step in this area by releasing about 100 terabytes’ worth of Virtual Earth imagery.

The full list of everything that’s been made available is really too long to repeat; several different types of images are circulating, plus multiple cities and counties have been covered in many countries. We’ll hit the highlights, though, to give you an idea.

Microsoft Virtual Earth

Virtual Earth users can now look for bird’s eye (oblique) views of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Or, if anyone feels like exploring a place other than America, there’s more to see in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Next, Microsoft’s released some high resolution orthos shots of California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, and New Jersey, and Texas, along with Great Britain, Greece, Japan, Norway, Portual, Scotland, and Spain.

Finally, there are satellite images of Albania, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Moldova, Mexico, Montenegro, Panama, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Told you the list was long, eh? And odds are good that, even without a big unveiling, Microsoft just made itself a lot of friends.

Destination Nowhere: Ask Give Microsoft Map Business

WebProNews Staff — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:42:44 +0000

Ask.com’s mapping service, a feature laden map option that provided a host of tools, received an unceremonious dumping in favor of Microsoft and its Virtual Earth.

Visitors to Ask Maps will see something unusual in the bottom right corner of the screen: a badge denoting the service comes from Microsoft Virtual Earth.

If you’re looking for all those features Ask Maps contained, like drawing tools and embeddable maps, stop looking. They’re gone, cut loose in what looks to be a spate of cost cutting, as Search Engine Land sees it.

The Virtual Earth blog said its product received insertion into several Ask products. Along with Ask Maps, Smart Answers and Ask City show Virtual City results.

Ask’s move likely won’t be the last as it repositions itself toward what we think will be a heavy shopping focus. Anything that isn’t funneling visitors toward a conversion of some type probably has a target on its back at Ask HQ; the old butler Jeeves will have lots of company in retirement.

Virtual Earth Treads New Ground

WebProNews Staff — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:38:26 +0000

Dozens of new cities in Microsoft’s Virtual Earth joined the list of those with Bird’s Eye imagery and other advanced views ahead of the Christmas holiday.

We were happy to see our homebase of Lexington, KY, make the list of the first twelve cities to have Bird’s Eye views available when Microsoft made that feature available a couple of Decembers ago.

Users of Windows Live Local have more to see thanks to the efforts of the Virtual Earth crew. It’s not limited to Bird’s Eye views of US cities, either.

Our pals at Resource Shelf pointed out Microsoft’s 3D textured imagery of almost 60 cities. These range from coast to coast in the US; Liverpool in the UK and Lachine in Montreal, Canada also merited this treatment.

Microsoft also opened new and updated imagery for places all over the world. Philadelphia and Knoxville were among the newest US Bird’s Eye cities, while Madrid, Brussels, and London were added in Europe.

Feedback for the Virtual Earth Team

Robert Scoble — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:02:17 +0000

The Virtual Earth team wants our feedback.

Wonderful. Kudos to any company that wants its customers’ feedback and offers a participatory approach. So, here’s my feedback…

Microsoft added a LOT of whizbang features to its maps.live.com maps (3D, lots of photos, and such) but they didn’t focus on the basics.

First off, you need a redesign. Google is kicking your ass on simplicity. Microsoft’s UIs always seem to get more clutter. Your team should hire Ev Williams to come and give his talk that he just gave at LeWeb3. Get rid of stuff, don’t add it.

2. Mobile. Make it killer and do whatever it takes to get it on the iPhone.

3. Show examples of how to do great searches. Google does, you don’t (at least not before you get into a search box). Google is easier to use because of it.

4. Make it work for what people use maps for. Today I picked up Patrick at his school. I forgot how to get there. Patrick said “just search Google Maps for Petaluma Jr. High.” When I saw this note I tried the same on Microsoft’s system. Hint: Google worked, Microsoft didn’t.

5. Speed. Google is always faster everytime I try it. That doesn’t give me confidence that Microsoft is working on the right things.

6. When I search for “Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA” Google finds me a result, Microsoft doesn’t.

7. Split all the different views into different URLs. Have a page where I can select between them. If I wasn’t a former MSFTie I’d have no clue what the difference between “Aerial” and “Bird’s Eye View” is.

8. I still have no clue what “collections” are. “Saved Locations” explains what they are much better.

9. Don’t be pedantic. When I asked it to give me directions to PodTech’s offices it tried to correct my zip code from 94304 to 94304-1216. Google wasn’t annoying like that.

10. Microsoft’s maps look cooler (they show mountain terrain, etc) but are harder to read, particularly on laptop screens in bright sunlight. I find I actually switch to Google for this reason. Most of the time I really don’t need terrain, or pretty pictures, but just want a simplistic, easy to see in bright sunlight, map.

11. DO continue to kick Microsoft’s behind with Traffic data (I’m sure there’s other data you could overlay on the map the way you do with accident data, right?)

12. Redesign your directions results. Google got nine items in the same space that you only got six. I often look up maps on my laptop and that DOES make a difference!

13. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. My Location. That’s the best feature on ANY software I’ve used this year. I was showing it to Patrick today and it made him go “wow.” Not available on iPhone, but only on Google’s Mobile Maps version. This was a MAGICAL feature over in Europe!

14. You don’t understand the magic of the word “link.” I can always figure out Google Maps and how to embed it into my blog. It’s tough for me to figure out how to link to a Microsoft Map. Yeah, I’m an idiot so you might write that off as idiotic behavior but, remember, I worked the Microsoft customer support lines so I know there are other idiots out there like me. Some of them even blog. Every blog brings you traffic, even if the only reader that blog has is mom and dad. Call it a f***ing permalink and call it a day, will you please?

15. I’m surprised no one has used their photo trucks to put little pictures next to driving directions. Instead on both maps I get “turn right onto SR-92.” Why don’t you put a little picture of what the sign looks like? I’d love it if you said “you’ll see a sign that looks like this right before you need to turn right.”

16. Amazing that NEITHER Google or Microsoft have a link that says “using GPS.” I’d love to have a page that explains all about how GPS works, which models are the coolest to use with these mapping systems, and what I need to get and how I need to hook it up. This could even be a profit center. If Microsoft linked over to Amazon’s store they’d get a kickback for each GPS sold.

17. Google Maps remember my default location. Microsoft Maps don’t seem to remember anything.

18. Google has more viewing area horizontally. For some reason my eye likes that.

Well, that’s enough. I’m not sure why I like Google Maps more, but they keep being my default and nothing I saw on this little jaunt tonight made me question that decision. I have never needed 3D imagery to get around, preferring the simple approach (although those features are impressive).

What do you think? What would you work on if you were on the Microsoft Mapping team? I haven’t even attempted to look up anything international, either. But Google was very accurate in Paris and London and told me instantly where I was thanks to its My Location feature. That really is the killer feature for me and it’s one that now gets me to use my Nokia N95 to look at maps instead of my iPhone (the iPhone is better for viewing and navigating around maps, though, but that one feature has proven much more important to me than anything else in the mapping experience).

Anyway, good luck!

Oh, and has anyone built a map mashup yet for Facebook? I’d love to see where all my friends are located around the world.

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Microsoft Virtual Earth Gets 3D Modeling System

Doug Caverly — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:17:59 +0000

Thanks to the release of a new 3D modeling system, Microsoft Virtual Earth is a step closer to achieving parity with its main rival, Google Earth. Google Warehouse, meet 3DVIA.

Not too long ago, a friend of mine moved into an under-construction neighborhood; his house was unknown to just about every program out there (as were the streets around it). But with 3DVIA, he could have literally put himself (and/or his new home) on the map.

On the other hand, there’s nothing that’ll make 3DVIA users stick to the facts. “We highly recommend creating completely unrealistic models of your home and nearby buildings and uploading them so that Virtual Earth users will get the sense that you live in Rivendell and not Poughkeepsie,” writes Download Squad’s Brad Linder.

Now that would be fun. Who would want to hang out in a split-level ranch when they could visit Elrond’s house?

Anyway, 3DVIA and Virtual Earth may still have some catching up to do – in a comparison on Earthware Blog, the duo weren’t liked as much as Google Warehouse and Google Earth.

Microsoft, Not Google, Secures EPA Deal

Doug Caverly — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:20:06 +0000

We’ve all seen Google grow increasingly close to the U.S. government, but in this case, it’s Microsoft that narrowed the gap. The prize, as such, is a contract with the Environmental Protection Agency involving the use of Virtual Earth.

Google’s mapping products might have been a more popular choice; we certainly seem to hear more about them on a day-to-day basis. The EPA’s decision is an even greater win for Microsoft, however, given that background.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the EPA to deliver the agency’s common operational mapping platform through a combination of Software plus Services,” said Curt Kolcun, vice president of the Microsoft’s Federal Division. The word “thrilled” shows up surprisingly often in press releases, but that’s still an interesting statement.

And so we (and/or the appropriate government agencies) should see Virtual Earth used in conjunction with “topics ranging from superfund sites and oil spills to waterways and the quality of beach water.” No dates of implementation have been made public, but, in an interview with Bloomberg’s Melita Marie Garza, a technology manager for the EPA said something interesting.

“We wanted to get our feet wet with the technology, without spending a fortune,” acknowledged Pat Garvey. “The Google offering didn’t seem to be as sharp, and Microsoft offered us unlimited use for one year.”

Microsoft Tunes Up Virtual Earth In UK

Mike Sachoff — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:04:56 +0000

Microsoft Corp. and Intermap Technologies have launched Microsoft’s enhanced Virtual Earth 3-D viewing platform with elevation information for all of Great Britain.

Intermap is also working on similar maps for Western Europe and the U.S.

"Microsoft is committed to delivering the highest-accuracy and highest-quality product for our Live Search Maps customers, and this enhancement is another step toward meeting this commitment," said Aric Weiker, director of product management for the Virtual Earth platform at Microsoft.

"Having Intermap’s highly accurate and reliable foundation layer under our imagery and building models allows us to provide one of the most accurate viewing experiences on the Internet today."

Intermap is now working on mapping Europe under its nextmap Europe program. Data for all of Germany is currently being put into the Intermap library and data collection for the rest of Western Europe will be completed by the end of 2007.

"This is a fundamental change for the industry as Microsoft raises the bar for accuracy and realistic 3-D experiences," said Eric DesRoche, senior vice president of automotive and consumer electronics at Intermap.

"While an accurate visualization application is important to deliver to consumers, our relationship with Microsoft begins to pave the way for the delivery of additional value-added products for the business and consumer markets within Great Britain, Europe and the U.S."

Virtual Earth Watches The Weather Channel

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:04:21 +0000

A new tool from The Weather Channel utilizes Microsoft’s Virtual Earth to let visitors drift through the clouds and weather systems from the desktop.

The always popular topic of weather can be seen from a new perspective at the Weather Channel website. Their latest piece of meteorological gadgetry features Microsoft’s Virtual Earth as the backdrop for rain, snow, and other mixtures of weather.

This Interactive Weather Map provides a few tools to make the visitor’s experience a more appealing one when looking for stormy conditions. As in Virtual Earth’s implementation, people can zoom in and out of views of an area, down to the Bird’s Eye view Microsoft offers for some cities.

Weather conditions may be seen as colored clouds on the map. Green indicates rain, and at press time can be seen in the Pacific Northwest. Winter is still in action in the Northeast, with grey clouds obscuring much of Pennsylvania and some of upstate New York.

The map’s transparency can be adjusted with a slider control. Zero transparency lets the weather obscure the underlying map. Adjusting it permits the map features to be seen underneath the prevailing cloud conditions.

Switch the weather layer from “Radar” to “Clouds,” and the prevailing cloud cover appears. The colors of the clouds represent their temperature. The two layers can be active at the same time, but only the green rain clouds show through clearly.

People who like to watch the pretty clouds go by can hit the Animation ‘play’ button and see the sequence of movement. The layer in view will determine the period of time rendered for the cloud motion.

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Virtual Billboards With Microsoft’s Virtual Earth

Mathew Ingram — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 15:34:42 +0000

As with any self-respecting blogger, I hate to say anything positive about Microsoft because they are synonymous with evil (just kidding!), but I must admit that the latest update to Virtual Earth – or whatever we’re supposed to be calling it nowadays, which is probably Windows Live Web Search Satellite Virtual 3-D Planet – is pretty damn cool.

I read about it over at Search Engine Watch and had to download it and check it out, based on the pics that Danny Sullivan put up, with full 3-D rendering – in better than Half-Life 2 detail – of downtown San Francisco and a bunch of other major cities. Microsoft even tipped its Stetson towards the Great White North by putting up a few buildings in Calgary and Vancouver, although apart from three or four major office towers, everything else is 2-D.

Best of all, cyberspace wouldn’t be cyberspace without advertising, right? So there are virtual billboards hovering here and there over office buildings and stadiums and whatnot, large enough that if they were in real life they would block out the sun. Is anyone going to want to advertise inside Virtual Earth? I would bet they are falling over themselves to do so. What if you’re checking out the city you’re moving to? There’s an ad for a real estate broker.

All we need now are those floating billboards with video commercials on them from Blade Runner (video is coming soon, Microsoft says). Oh, and maybe an add-on pack that would let you race cars (but not like this stupid thing Microsoft tried to pull) or hunt virtual bad guys down the streets of your favourite city. I can see it now: Grand Theft Auto – Vancouver.

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Mathew Ingram is a
technology writer and blogger for the Globe and Mail, a national
newspaper based in Toronto, and also writes about the Web and media at
www.mathewingram.com/work and www.mathewingram.com/media.