Windows Live Local Gets "Virtual Earth" 3-D Cities

Today, Microsoft goes head to head with Google Earth by releasing its new mapping application called “Windows Live”. Using multiple cameras, Microsoft has filmed and taped real people traversing the streets of major cities and collected that footage to create a 3D model of 15 major metropolitan cities in the United States. This number will grow as they continute to map other cities the nation and add them to their database. So, much like Google Earth, Windows Live will allow a user to zoom in and pan around locations on the map by putting in exact addresses and coordinates, but it will have the added feature of 3D. The combination of the multiple camera angles are built to create a real time view of a city and thus allowing a person to become immersed in a city as if he was really there.
Some other additions include real time traffic reporting in metropolitan areas and virtual billboards. The virtual billboards will be superimposed onto buildings and other structures and will actually be links that take the user to the website for the company advertising on the billboard. This linking concept will also be added to existing storefronts along the highways and byways the user sees during his virtual visit to a city. In other words, one could take a 3D tour down 5th Avenue in New York City, stop at Tiffany’s front door, click on it, and then be taken to the company website and shop away. This gives a whole new meaning to the world of shopping online. A user can actually see the store in 3D, and then with a simple mouse click he can actually shop at the store.
Just as Google Earth can be used for simple driving directions, Windows Live will have the ability to not only give directions, but there will be the added bonus of actually seeing landmarks on the virtual tour that actually translate to real landmarks on a person’s journey. Different camera angles allow the user to see his route from bird’s eye views to an actual view that one would see while walking or driving.
While this is a giant leap forward in convenience for some, it can also have a negative effect. Instead of just a top view of a residence like Google Earth, Windows Live will take you to a person’s front door. This could give someone with bad intentions an easy way to find someone’s home and give them an exact view of what the surroundings are in a much more feasible and practical scale. This may seem like a stretch in some people’s minds, but a plausible one nonetheless.
Overall, the concept and development of Windows Live is a huge leap forward and yet another example of how technology is being used to advance our everyday lives.


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