Originally published January 2 2006
Microsoft unveils version of bird's-eye view map service
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The service offers a bird's-eye view of cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Las Vegas. Users can click on a point on the map and get directions to that exact location.
The bird's-eye images, captured by Pictometry International using low-flying planes, are integrated with road and satellite maps to simulate 360-degree panoramas that can be viewed from any of the four different compass directions.
Users can choose between directional views, for instance, to see the front or back sides of buildings, or zoom closer using on-screen navigation tools and preview tiles.
The new service also enables users to create customized maps by adding user-created pushpins, as well as annotate maps and share maps and local search information with others via e-mail by posting them as blogs on MSN Spaces or through MSN Messenger.
Microsoft plans to expand the bird's-eye view coverage with its exclusive partnership with Pictometry to cover as much as 90 percent of the U.S. population, which means the big cities but not all the "corn farms in Nebraska," said Stephen Lawler, general manager for MapPoint and MSN Virtual Earth.
The photography offers a higher degree of resolution and clarity than what is otherwise available from aerial or satellite photography," said Greg Sterling, managing editor at The Kelsey Group.
"There are a lot of personalization aspects to it," including the ability to add notes and create custom maps, he said.
Sterling also praised Windows Live Local's integration with MSN Messenger, which allows multiple people to simultaneously view and interact with the same map.
AOL, Google and Yahoo also have integrated mapping and local search services, but Windows Live Local will be the first of the major mapping services to offer something other than just a view from directly above, as most satellite imagery has offered.
Meanwhile, in addition to Google Local integrated map and search, the search company has Google Earth, a downloadable program that allows users to get a simulated view of flying over cities.
And Amazon's A9 mapping tool displays street-level views in its service.
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