July 25, 2005
Virtual Earth on MSN
Welcome to Virtual Earth, the best way to find what you’re searching for.
Give it a try. It’s pretty neat - among other things, you can soom in super close in Mountain View!
My favorite feature? You can control zoom using a mouse wheel. Finally!
Check it out!
UPDATE: This entry on the Virtual Earth team’s blog answers the question that you’re wondering about: “Why Would I use VE? Isn’t it just like Google maps?”
UPDATE 2: Be sure to click on the “Locate Me” button. I can’t explain it, but this video can. (It’s about 1/3rd in)
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3 Comments to “Virtual Earth on MSN”
July 25th, 2005 at 2:43 am
MSN Virtual Earth Beta Version
Heute hat MSN die Beta Version von MSN Virtual Earth, eine web-basierte Applikation kombiniert mit local search und Luftaufnahmen, released. Auf dem ersten Blick sieht MSN Virtual Earth sehr ?hnlich nach Google Maps, beide k?nnen z. B. die Routen- un…
July 25th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
The major reason I don’t use MSN instead of Google?
The satellite imagery on MSN is horribly out of date. My house isn’t there, my neighborhood isn’t there, the streets aren’t even there. All over the place, the imagery is old, old, old.
I zoomed in on my old house in Arlington, VA, and note that the imagery there is far more recent — 2002 in fact, because the Pentagon reconstruction is nearly complete. But in the city, my old office building is still there in the imagery despite being torn down around 5 years ago.
But this is also a plus, because I can now show people where the Alpha Beta used to be on Branham Lane a decade ago before they built all those houses.
Or the field that used to be where Apple’s corporate headquarters has been all these years. Or what route 87 looked like before they built all those pesky interchanges.
While there are new ways to manipulate GIS data, I feel sure that these are also available on Google Maps by virtue of their open hooks.
The zooming is nicer and more responsive than Google’s, and it works on a Mac — which in and of itself is astonishing, considering that it’s an MSN product.
I dunno. Once again, it looks just like Microsoft copied someone else’s idea, in almost every way.
July 25th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Yeah - I mean, MSN maps still shows the Twin Towers in Manhattan - not good.
But here’s something you can’t do in Google.
1. Go to http://www.virtualearth.com
2. In the “What” box, type Pizza. In the “Where” box type 94041. Return.
3. In the “What” box, type Car repair. Return.
4. Drag the map around. Notice that it keeps showing you where the Pizza and Car Repair places are.
Can google do that?
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