Microsoft unveils Virtual Earth (beta... of course.)

Filed under: Internet, News, Web services, Microsoft

Microsoft unveils Virtual Earth (beta... of course.)

by Barb Dybwad Jul 25th 2005

Microsoft Virtual Earth
Well, it's happened -- Microsoft has thrown down their counterpoint to Google maps and Yahoo maps. I just checked out Virtual Earth and it's got some pretty nice bells and whistles:

Continuous local search: Do a search by type ("coffee," e.g.) and you'll see waypoints of local coffee places. As you pan around the map, the search will update continuously based on your new location.
Layered search: You can see the results of multiple searches -- both "restaurant" and "hotel," e.g. -- simultaneously via the use of different colored markers, which comes in handy for travel planning.
Scratch pad: This is a temporary bin to hold items of interest as you go -- when you've collected your points of interest, you can email them or blog them all at once (although the blog feature apparently only works in IE6/Win, hmmph).
Locate Me: Finds your location by triangulating via the nearest WiFi spot (requires a small client-side application), or by taking an educated guess based on your IP address. The latter is a bit rough -- it thinks I'm in Syracuse, NY because my ISP is there (I'm not!). Regarding the former -- if you're using Firefox, you'll have to download an ActiveX plug-in.

[Via Chandu Thota via Scoble]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Similar said 8:39AM on 7-25-2005

Will probably only ever work for Windows Sheeple, Meh. At least Google Earth will eventually work on OSX and Linux.
ActiveX just to run Microsoft Virtual Earth? If I wanted to blow open my Windows box with security holes, I'd use IE in the first place.
Doesn't it seem odd that this Google/MS Simulated Earth idea came out of both companies at around the same time?

Steve said 8:43AM on 7-25-2005

Looks like an admirable first attempt, but you think they'd have enough sense to use more recent satellite footage...you know, post 9/11/2001?

J.T. Mill said 9:33AM on 7-25-2005

It could zoom in further at my house than Google Maps, but the interface was clumsy and the hybrid map lines didn't match up at all with the airial photos. I'll stick with Google, thank you.

VVV said 10:07AM on 7-25-2005

Google Earth already has that Locate Me function...at least it did my find my house at startup without me typing my address....

Mark Little said 11:26AM on 7-25-2005

We started building our house in 1995 and it doesn't show in the photo. Kind of a long lag time.

hafa said 2:25PM on 7-25-2005

Unoriginal idea, its really not worth anyone's attention.

Benny said 6:59PM on 7-25-2005

It does seem to zoom in further than Google Maps.

Herman Yung said 7:25PM on 7-25-2005

Virtual Earth's satellite images are old.

Victor Agreda, Jr. said 9:24PM on 7-25-2005

Virtually useless is more like it. When I try to zoom in too far I get some lovely icons indicating there are no pics (took me a minute to figure out because I though it might be downloading them). And the images are so out of date as to make navigation quite incorrect... Yay! So when I get lost I can whip out Maps2003 on my PocketPC and get more lost...

Zaid said 6:58AM on 7-26-2005

Nice knowing that such a thin client full screen mapping tool is now available. I was getting a bit tired of the postmark-sized alternatives designed to fit on VGA monitors. The 10MB Google Earth download is great on my laptop but not on every connected Windows box I might stumble accross.

Now with some more competition around let us hope that the aerial resolution will spread or increase. Meanwhile I also think that, for power users, Google Earth remains far ahead.

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