Virtual Earth 3D models of cities added to Windows Live map system.
Virtual Earth 3D models of cities added to Windows Live map system.
Microsoft has released a new map component of its Windows Live service that the comapny claims will make service more visually appealing and intuitive.
The Virtual Earth 3D content will be available as an optional view in Windows Live Local Search, Microsoft's browser-based mapping and navigation service. Initially, the 3D content will be available for 15 US cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Microsoft expects to have content for over 100 cities worldwide by September of 2007.
One of the main highlights of Virtual Earth is the highly-detailed landscape. Buildings are presented in realistic colors and textures, a process that would normally require large amounts of time and millions of dollars. Competing services such as Google Earth are based on satellite photos, where Microsoft uses aerial photography.
Stephen Lawler, the general manager of Microsoft's virtual earth business unit, said that last spring's acquisition of mapping firm Vexcel gave Microsoft access to new mapping and image-gathering technology. That technology allowed the company to automate and streamline the 3D modeling process for the cities, allowing them to be created faster and as much as 10 per cent cheaper.
Unlike Google Earth, which is a stand-alone application, Microsoft has chosen to make Virtual earth browser-based. The company will allow users to incorporate their own mash-up content on top of Virtual Earth 3D. A similar service is also available for the current version of Windows Live Local.
The fact that Windows Live and Virtual Earth will be browser-based, rather than a separate application, could give Microsoft an advantage over Google in bringing in new users, according to Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence.
"It makes it a lot more accessible," Sterling said. "What Microsoft is doing is bringing the richness of [Windows Live] plus all this 3D stuff into the browser window."
Sterling sees Virtual Earth 3D not as simply a search or mapping tool, but as a move towards a visual, 3-dimensional internet. He points to the success of such 3D communities as Second Life and World of Warcraft as examples.
"I think there will be a way to navigate the internet visually," said Sterling, "with the rise of these visually rich environments you've got video online, more graphical richness, more visual information. I think the idea of combining these visual worlds with mapping is very interesting."
Microsoft said that keeping the illusion of a virtual world was even considered in the way advertising was displayed. Advertisements will be included in Virtual Earth, but Lawler explained that they will be incorporated into the environment as items such as billboards on top of buildings.
Sue Feldman, research vice president of the content technologies group for research firm IDC, praised the advertising system.
"It gives you more advertising space, and in terms of what's going on in the digital marketplace today, it's a good idea," Feldman said.
"If they do it well, the advertising will be an enhancement," said Sterling.