4 ms·

It's really amazing how decisively Microsoft is beating Google in world-mapping, despite being second or third to market. Here's some data points: 1. Microsoft

It's really amazing how decisively Microsoft is beating Google in world-mapping, despite being second or third to market. Here's some data points: 1. Microsoft's take on Google's idea of hybrid map rendering (labels overlayed on satellite/aerial images) has yielded the most beautiful hybrid I've ever seen on an online map. 2. Sometime ago a commenter of my blog needed to go from Moscow to Shanghai, and Microsoft's map was the only one that produced a usable route. (For this you need to road networks of all the countries along the way, and not choke on huge routes.) 3. Photosynth, 'nuff said. And the followup "finding paths through the world's photos" by the same research group. And that mind-blowing demo (given by the same person, Blaise Aguiera y Arcas) where they incorporated a live camera feed into panoramic views. Look them all up, you won't be disappointed. 4. Bird's eye view and the streets overlaid on top of that. 5. 3D cities in Bing Maps are created professionally, unlike the cities in Google Earth, and it shows. 6. Bing's street-side view has exceptional 3D cues of movement. And now this. I love watching all this stuff slowly come together.

GFischer 16y ago
Now they "only" need to get the mindshare of the users - which is, granted, much easier if your product is better than the competition - word of mouth should take a bit of the burden off that.
smackfu 16y ago
Bird's eye view is really good. I will use Bing Maps just for that. I'm surprised they don't have anything like that in Google Maps.
- yellowbkpk 16y ago
  They do: http://goo.gl/maps/H4IZ http://goo.gl/maps/H4IZ (admittedly, it's only available as a Labs feature and in a handful of cities).
  - smackfu 16y ago
    Heh, I guess you can't direct-link to them either. (Need to click the aerial button once you follow the link, which I assume only shows up if you have the Labs feature turned on.) Microsoft has really good coverage for theirs, and I find it very useful to actually find places, since it's not as low-level as street view.
ratsbane 16y ago
Does anyone know if Bing Maps has started sending out teams to collect street view images? AFAIK they only have parts of Seattle and San Francisco and that is several years old. I have not installed Silverlight so perhaps it's already there and I just can't see it. StreetSlide IS very neat but they're going to need Google-scale street image coverage to make it useful. http://preview.local.live.com/ http://preview.local.live.com/
- cousin_it 16y ago
  They have a lot of street-side data. Install Silverlight and try it, I just tried some major American cities randomly and they were there.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
>"It's really amazing how decisively Microsoft is beating Google in world-mapping, despite being second or third to market." Bing's mapping tools are built on/what were Multimap aren't they? AFAIK multimap preceded Google Maps and had aerial imagery - a mix between satellite and street view - before Google and before it was handed over to Bing? (This has been my perception, could well be wrong). Doesn't this mean that Microsoft is beating Google in mapping because they bought the leader in mapping at the time and have [amazingly] built on that?? Slightly less glorious.
- cousin_it 16y ago
  Um, citations? I don't think Bing Maps were built on Multimap in any way, and I don't remember Multimap having aerial images before Google. I could be wrong, though. AFAIK, the only map that had aerial data before Google maps (and the only draggable tiled map before Google maps) was map.search.ch, built by Endoxon which was later bought by Google.
  - angstrom 16y ago
    Not sure what it was built on, but don't forget Microsoft had TerraServer http://msrmaps.com/default.aspx http://msrmaps.com/default.aspx long before Google bought Keyhole for their mapping technology which was limited to a desktop application at the time.
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
    I did take pains to stress this was my perception, note that GoogleMaps is not the same everywhere, neither I suppose is MM or BingMaps. >I don't remember Multimap having aerial images before Google Here's a good review from 2005 of the situation in the USA, http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2005/05/24/msn-vs-google-searching-earth http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2005/05/24/msn-vs-g... ; I'm not in the USA. From 2003: "The public web site http://www.multimap.com http://www.multimap.com provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life.Key features include street-level maps of the United Kingdom, Europe and the US; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; the London Underground map; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking.Multimap.com, which was recently voted Best Internet Service in the World Communication Awards 2002, attracts over 6.3 million unique users every month and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the UK." (http://www.directionsmag.com/mobile/news/index.php?duty=Show&id=8274 http://www.directionsmag.com/mobile/news/index.php?duty=Show...) From 1999: "Aerial Images, Inc. and UK Perspectives announced today that high-resolution color aerial photography of all of the United Kingdom will be made available for viewing and purchase on the TerraServer(TM) at www.terraserver.com ." (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54597413.html http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54597413.html)

GFischer 16y ago

Now they "only" need to get the mindshare of the users - which is, granted, much easier if your product is better than the competition - word of mouth should take a bit of the burden off that.

smackfu 16y ago

Bird's eye view is really good. I will use Bing Maps just for that. I'm surprised they don't have anything like that in Google Maps.

yellowbkpk 16y ago
They do: http://goo.gl/maps/H4IZ http://goo.gl/maps/H4IZ (admittedly, it's only available as a Labs feature and in a handful of cities).
- smackfu 16y ago
  Heh, I guess you can't direct-link to them either. (Need to click the aerial button once you follow the link, which I assume only shows up if you have the Labs feature turned on.) Microsoft has really good coverage for theirs, and I find it very useful to actually find places, since it's not as low-level as street view.

ratsbane 16y ago

Does anyone know if Bing Maps has started sending out teams to collect street view images? AFAIK they only have parts of Seattle and San Francisco and that is several years old. I have not installed Silverlight so perhaps it's already there and I just can't see it. StreetSlide IS very neat but they're going to need Google-scale street image coverage to make it useful. http://preview.local.live.com/ http://preview.local.live.com/

cousin_it 16y ago
They have a lot of street-side data. Install Silverlight and try it, I just tried some major American cities randomly and they were there.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

>"It's really amazing how decisively Microsoft is beating Google in world-mapping, despite being second or third to market." Bing's mapping tools are built on/what were Multimap aren't they? AFAIK multimap preceded Google Maps and had aerial imagery - a mix between satellite and street view - before Google and before it was handed over to Bing? (This has been my perception, could well be wrong). Doesn't this mean that Microsoft is beating Google in mapping because they bought the leader in mapping at the time and have [amazingly] built on that?? Slightly less glorious.

cousin_it 16y ago
Um, citations? I don't think Bing Maps were built on Multimap in any way, and I don't remember Multimap having aerial images before Google. I could be wrong, though. AFAIK, the only map that had aerial data before Google maps (and the only draggable tiled map before Google maps) was map.search.ch, built by Endoxon which was later bought by Google.
- angstrom 16y ago
  Not sure what it was built on, but don't forget Microsoft had TerraServer http://msrmaps.com/default.aspx http://msrmaps.com/default.aspx long before Google bought Keyhole for their mapping technology which was limited to a desktop application at the time.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  I did take pains to stress this was my perception, note that GoogleMaps is not the same everywhere, neither I suppose is MM or BingMaps. >I don't remember Multimap having aerial images before Google Here's a good review from 2005 of the situation in the USA, http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2005/05/24/msn-vs-google-searching-earth http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2005/05/24/msn-vs-g... ; I'm not in the USA. From 2003: "The public web site http://www.multimap.com http://www.multimap.com provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life.Key features include street-level maps of the United Kingdom, Europe and the US; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; the London Underground map; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking.Multimap.com, which was recently voted Best Internet Service in the World Communication Awards 2002, attracts over 6.3 million unique users every month and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the UK." (http://www.directionsmag.com/mobile/news/index.php?duty=Show&id=8274 http://www.directionsmag.com/mobile/news/index.php?duty=Show...) From 1999: "Aerial Images, Inc. and UK Perspectives announced today that high-resolution color aerial photography of all of the United Kingdom will be made available for viewing and purchase on the TerraServer(TM) at www.terraserver.com ." (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54597413.html http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54597413.html)