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MSN Virtual Earth to Take on Google
Jim Bruer writes "Microsoft sends news today that founder Bill Gates has announced a MSN Virtual Earth service is to debut in the summer. The service is promised to provide:
*Satellite images with 45-degree-angle views of buildings and neighborhoods
*Satellite images with street map overlays
* Ability to add local data layers, such as showing local businesses or restaurants
The service will allow users to choose from a number of different data types plus allow people to contribute their own information."
Via web-services?
I guess not! Further, with google, you can do cool things like http://www.paulrademacher.com/housing/ and http://labs.google.com/ridefinder.
I betcha MSN's service will not be that flexible. But, I guarantee that it will have all kinds of bells and whistles. (some may really like 45 deg tilt views).
Right now, google works for me. Let's see how MSFT's presentation is, when it comes to fruit!
I prefer the very unhyped way that Google launches its services, when they are ready! It seems that Microsoft marketing allready has caught up with Google Maps, now it's time for the programmers to do their job.
What is more important, bug-free functionality or the launch date?
extern warranty;
main()
{
(void)warranty;
}
How very wrong you are. Being first to market is not neccessarily the best thing.
You'll find that the people who make money are just fulfilling demand in an existing market, not creating new markets.
This is, of course, based on the assumption that you measure the success of a company by how much money they make....
-- Matt
Microsoft could gain an edge over Google Maps by providing global coverage since the beginning. Otherwise I'm not sure the 45-degree images would bring much added value to the service. Google would probably continue to be #1 in this segment with their yet unmatched UI
Maybe it will give a better view of this thing.
"The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand", or so I have read.
I don't know. The writeup sounds cool. I'm definitely looking forward to version 3!
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Mom: Look! Sue is taking her first step.
Billy: Mom! Look at me! I'm balancing a bowling ball on my nose.
Apple: In Tiger you will have enhanced search capabilities called Spotlight
MS: Forget Tiger's Spotlight, Longhorn will do your homework for you.
Google: Now you can search locations using satellite maps. Nifty, eh?
MS: Google is so 2004. MSN Virtual Search allows you to spy on your neighbor's hot wife.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
uh yeah...cuz Google was the first company to offer a map program....oh wait....but it was the first company to offer satellite images...wait wait no....I'm pretty sure it was the first company to have free web based email...or then again... um but its DEFINITELY the first company to offer a personalized portal with your news and stocks and sear...oh wait wait no....hmmm.
Here are some links to get you started:
- Mapping Google
- Google Suggest Dissected
- Gmail Agent API
I'll assume you know how to find each of the actual google services.I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
and it seems Microsoft are following, if you have to keep measuring yourself up, you have already lost
Just like Google started the first web search eng... oops.
Just like Google started the first online mappi... oops.
Just like Google started the first online newsgroup sear.... oops.
Just like Google started the first online image sea.... oops.
Just liek Google started the first "local" specific content dir... ooops.
Unless you're the innovator, you at somepoint must follow (including everyones beloved Google).
Last spring there was a demo for Longhorn published to the web. The primary focus was around finding information regarding a real estate property. In the demo the user was able to select the street address of the property and retrieve, photos (air and sat.), demographic information and traffic pattern data and overlay it on a map. In hindsight, this sounds a lot like what Bill is talking about. All of this data was accessible via a web service as well.
I'm thinking that this isn't something that MS just invented "out of the blue" to compete with Google maps, it has likely been under development for a while.
I dunno, I've been pretty unimpressed with the google map images (beyond such obvious problems as U.S. only coverage) -- the quality is so variable it gets annoying, even for a casual use.
That's what you get with satellite imagery when you order humungous off the shelf data sets.
This problem doesn't take any creativity to fix, just cash. With an outlay of cash you can order up custom imagery that meets your technical specifications with a specified level of consistency. Then you need a staff to check it, and then prepare it for use by rubber sheeting it and registering it, or in this case cutting it up into little tiles. This process requires considerable investment in staff, software, equipment and procedures, but it's efficient once it gets into gear.
Last time I looked into this for a client, I figured he could get really good custom sat imagery for his entire county for something like $10,000. There are 3140 counties in the US, of various sizes (this was a large one); what is more if you're ordering data on this scale, you probably can get a pretty good deal on a per image basis. But we can safely say that if you want really excellent data which fits your purpose precisely and covers the entire US in high resolution, you're talking millions by the time you're done.
Using off the shelf data, you have good enough imagery for a lot less money, which makes sense for the speculative launch of a free service. Now that Google has shown how to use AJAX to make the data more interactive, it's only a matter of time before somebody decides to copy them, but one up them on the data quality. Money seeks obvious problems. Fortunately for Google, they have money too now; maybe they're not fated to being the R&D lab for the industry.
Finally I'd have to say the idea of using images shot from a low angle like 45 degrees instead of overhead is good and bad.
Reasons its bad:
* You can't rectify the image and use it for anything that requires geographic precision.
For example, look at the image in the article, particularly the tower in the upper right hand corner. Consider the column of about 30 windows on the left edge of the tower. The geographic positions of all of these windows are exactly the same, but they show up in different positions in the photograph. The same thing happens when one road crosses another on an overpass. If the angle is such that you can see underneath the overpass, then a geographic position on the bridge deck will have a second representation on the photograph: the point on the roadway directly beneath it. The software which plots the vector representation of the roads is not going to know this, unless the data is tweaked for every overpass in the country. Maybe if you had high res elevation data like a LIDAR survey you could mathematically tweak the entire data set.
People tend to believe a photo more than anything else, but the fact is the precision of photos from a geographic standpoint is highly limited. When using imagery with data from other sources such as GPS and surveying, you can't expect it to line up very well. Things are better if you have in image shot from above with a narrow field of view, and if your target area doesn't have much topography.
* You can't see details that are behind hills or structures.
Obviously. If you are interested in an alleyway that's behind a building, or a lot that is obscured by an elevated highway, then tough.
What is good about the 45 degree image is that it does provide a lot of information that you wouldn't get otherwise about the z dimension, for example you can easily see that in the cluster of buildings on the left side of the image, the building with the pyramid cap is the tallest -- indeed that it has a pyramidal cap. Generally, with imagery, you want one taken in the early morning or late afternoon, especially in low latitudes like Miami. A low sun throws a lot of detail into relief, and a high sun tends to wash it out.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I think its more interesting how these are released, and how MS is taking a bigger risk.
Google didn't tell anybody. They just added a link to their maps page and said beta. No anouncement, nada. Just a working product, and no expectations.
Microsoft is making an anouncement before they are putting a working product in peoples hands. This may create a lot of expectations, and they will get more critical treatment when bugs are found, if they miss the release date (not MS), etc.
However the MS product turns out. Google will probably end up looking better because they simply released a working service. They didn't hype it up and generate false expectations.
Either way, I think we win as these companies fight one another by making their offerings and products better.
----- If communism is a system where the government owns business, what do you call a system where business owns govern
In fact, M$ has ALWAYS followed. Any other way is too expensive.
They let others bust their balls trying to develop something that survives out there in the market place.
If and when it does, they swoop in, 'integrate' it into their system and steal the market.
Their R&D is not for 'creating new products' but 'how to integrate new options' as there come up.
They are quite content to let others do the innovating and they take the cream of the crop and then produce a knock-off which takes at least three tries 'till it works.
That's how you make money. And the worst part is that is the strategy for maintaining 'world domination.'
Notice how long Longhorn has been in the paddocks?
Microsoft is waiting for a credible threat until they release Longhorn. The threat is not here yet.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Here's the comparison table:
... top secret.
Open source calls it: alpha testing
Microsoft calls it: 1.0
Google calls it: shhhh
Apple calls it: unsubstantiated rumors
Open source calls it: beta testing
Microsoft calls it: 2.0
Google calls it: beta testing
Apple calls it: rumors with possibly some substance to them
Open source calls it: release candidate
Microsoft calls it: 3.0
Google calls it: beta testing
Apple calls it: copies are circulated to the usual suspects, who eagerly publish reviews describing it as the "most innovating product yet!"
Open source calls it: 1.0
Microsoft calls it: varies. Previous names have included 3.1, 95, 98, 4.0, 5.0 or X.
Google calls it: beta testing
Apple calls it: released to the market place, Steve Jobs goes on record to say that it is "insanely great".
Open source calls it: 2.0
Microsoft calls it: SP1,2,3...
Google calls it: beta testing
Apple calls it: a recall
And of course, for all of the versions above:
Slashdot puts a writeup on the front page. A million posters call it a Slashvertisement. Somebody quotes CmdrTaco's lame-as-an-iPod comment. Atleast one thread will begin with a Goatse link and will end with a reference to either Adolf Hitler.
Robert X. Cringley will claim with a smile that he knew this was coming.
Paul Graham will write an article on how it could have been done better with Lisp, but oh well, good job anyways.
Linus Torvalds will say nothing.
Bill Gates will appear on pictures smiling evily.
Steve Jobs will appear on pictures stoned.
Maddox will put a writeup on his site involving the item in question and a penis.