5 ms·

Wasn't Bing Maps the first big player to offer 45-degree angle aerial imagery? The article doesn't mention their "Bird’s Eye view" (airplane pics from 4 angles

by Tempest1981 5y ago

Wasn't Bing Maps the first big player to offer 45-degree angle aerial imagery? The article doesn't mention their "Bird’s Eye view" (airplane pics from 4 angles, not satellite), but I think I remember using it for some cities, before Google had it. Although I think it was short-lived. Google was focused on StreetView, iirc. After Keyhole. Around 2009? https://www.computerworld.com/article/2468196/bing-maps--microsoft-finally-beats-google-at-its-own-game.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2468196/bing-maps--mic... Edit: I would love to read about the history of this space, if anyone knows of a good article/blog/book.

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
I remember using the Microsoft aerial imagery in 2004 (that year corresponds to a certain year in high school when I used it for a class project). It wasn't "Bing" back then, but I remember it predating -- or at least having better-quality photos than -- Google Maps' aerial imagery.
- codeulike 5y ago
  Might have been Terraserver? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraserver.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraserver.com For a while, Terraserver was the biggest database on the web With 5 terabytes of uncompressed image data, Microsoft TerraServer is bigger than all the HTML pages combined already on the Internet. [1998] https://news.microsoft.com/1998/06/24/microsoft-partners-announce-microsoft-terraserver-global-atlas-is-worlds-largest-database-on-the-web/ https://news.microsoft.com/1998/06/24/microsoft-partners-ann...
  - kingcharles 5y ago
    God, I remember when it launched and how big a Terabyte seemed. Now the Google home page is about a Terabyte of Javascript.
mandeepj 5y ago
> I would love to read about the history of this space, if anyone knows of a good article/blog/book. somewhat related - https://decider.com/2021/10/07/the-billion-dollar-code-netflix-review/ https://decider.com/2021/10/07/the-billion-dollar-code-netfl...

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago

I remember using the Microsoft aerial imagery in 2004 (that year corresponds to a certain year in high school when I used it for a class project). It wasn't "Bing" back then, but I remember it predating -- or at least having better-quality photos than -- Google Maps' aerial imagery.

codeulike 5y ago
Might have been Terraserver? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraserver.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraserver.com For a while, Terraserver was the biggest database on the web With 5 terabytes of uncompressed image data, Microsoft TerraServer is bigger than all the HTML pages combined already on the Internet. [1998] https://news.microsoft.com/1998/06/24/microsoft-partners-announce-microsoft-terraserver-global-atlas-is-worlds-largest-database-on-the-web/ https://news.microsoft.com/1998/06/24/microsoft-partners-ann...
- kingcharles 5y ago
  God, I remember when it launched and how big a Terabyte seemed. Now the Google home page is about a Terabyte of Javascript.

mandeepj 5y ago

> I would love to read about the history of this space, if anyone knows of a good article/blog/book. somewhat related - https://decider.com/2021/10/07/the-billion-dollar-code-netflix-review/ https://decider.com/2021/10/07/the-billion-dollar-code-netfl...