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Windows Live goes Local
dualcore writes "PC Magazine is reporting that Windows is going live with a 'new online local search and mapping service.' The interface is pretty close to Google Local, but with subtle enhancements, such as right-clicking anywhere on the map brings up a context menu or the way you can click on a point on the map to select it for directions. The final word on which service is better remains to be seen but this competition will certainly benefit the end-users."
Playing around with it, I find it cumbersome compared to its Google analog; the drag behaviour, for instance, goes into a bizarre sticky mode.
And I'm not afraid to say: Wait to go Microsoft! They've created something very very cool that no one else has. While Google Maps and Google Earth were bigger steps in the evolution of maps, this is still quite a large one and I think Microsoft deserves more credit than they got when they first released Virtual Earth and probably more credit than Google FanBoys at Slashdot will grant them now.
That said, there are some annoying interface issues that make it less polished than Google Maps.
The draggable-maps may have just created interface expectations that can't be met with these photos.
The Siteseeing link from their blog is also very cool.
...is how One-Click Shopping can get patented, but Microsoft can get away with such blatant copies as this (of Google Maps), MSN Messenger (of ICQ), and so forth.
For users outside of the US and UK Live Local is the better one. Google Maps/Local still ignores most parts of the world
If you do bird's eye view for my office , there are tons of people in the street on 5th avenue. It's too disorganized to be a parade, and Madison has traffic on it, so it wasn't the blackout. There are also two circles of people in the northern part of the image. Anyone know what gives?
Please, for the love of God, no more car analogies.
Works for me with Galeon under Linux. Looks like we're not being ignored anymore!
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
Lately it's google that comes up with the most innovative ideas and MS chasing their behinds. I wonder when the Google OS will appear..
--
http://www.e-guides.biz/
"Wait to go Microsoft!" ;)
So you're saying I should keep using Google Maps and see how this project progresses later?
When you double click on the map, it "zooms" in. Problem is, they are using rasta* images at screen resolution, so this zoom looks shit and serves no purpose. What is especially crap is the fact that after the fake zoom in, it zooms you back out(this time without the silly animation) again for your new zoom level.
.eps? Closest thing we have now is .swf which involves a 3rd party plugin.
Sorry for excessive use of the word "zoom".
*When are we gonna get internet browsers that support popular vector file formats like
sudo killall humans
...its called Terraserver, and it predated Google by a good many years...
-everphilski-
- bird's eye view
- right-click menu
Dislike:You probably shouldn't click this.
Marathon? That's what it looks like to me.
-theGreater.
One aside, I don't like how so much information is embedded into the "permalink" - why is it relevant to embed my SEARCH HISTORY into the link? Here's an example. I searched "Central Avenue, Cheyenne, WY" then "6103 State Rt 44, Canfield, OH" (which it didn't recognize). Then I searched 125 Broad St, NY, NY. Here is the resulting permalink:4 4~-74.011397&style=r&lvl=15&sp=adr.Central%20Ave%2 C%20Cheyenne%2C%20WY%2082001~adr.6103%20SR-44%2C%2 0Louisville%2C%20OH%2044641~adr.125%20Broad%20St%2 C%20New%20York%2C%20NY%2010004
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=40.7027
This is probably an obvious answer to /.ers, but what on earth does http://local.live.com/ have to do with Windows (other than the o/s the service runs on?) This appears to be just another web app, with the windows adjective thrown in for no other reason than brand recognition.
And maybe it's also a sneaky effort on MS's part to convince internet users that dynamic DHTML+JS web pages are somehow related to their operating system... NOT. Kind of surprised it's not "MSN Local Live", or "MSN Live Local" or something... maybe that says something about where the MSN brand is going...
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
The right-click feature is nice, but it could be better. Something I wish google-maps would implement for a while. Similar to how ppl have hacked google-maps for things like subways -- you shouldn't have to create a whole new webpage. If google-maps allowed you to create a file (e.g. say in your gmail account) that created predefined paths, how great would that be? User defined landmarks, paths, and comments (imagine you could put stickies anywhere you wanted) could make google-maps a *really* powerful and innovative tool. Something I won't expect M$ to ever do .. their right-click is more one-upmanship than actual innovation.
As for the bird-eye view -- very cool. The satellite maps don't do much much good. However, once again, somewhat limited. The map work in an almost similar way to google-map (albeit more clunky, and difficult to navigate with the mouse), but then there is a new view for birds-eye view.. not very compelling.
All in all, no good reason to jump ship. It doesn't appear to provide anything that google couldn't implement in a weekend, and the technology isn't nearly as polished. Google may open 'beta' to the public, but it's usually pretty well-polished by the time the casual user gets to it. Even small things, like google still has trouble with some addresses, is not nearly to the degree that live-maps is having..
I agree with most of your comments but Google and Microsoft both use NAVTEQ, and both put my house about 1/2 block east of were I really live. The only thing different is Microsoft data from NAVTEQ is a year older then Googles.
The thing I like about is Microsoft doesn't put there name all over the maps like Google does. Also Microsoft maybe in B/W but they have better coverage in my Area. Other my city, Google has very bad coverage.
I hadn't really thought about that, but it is pretty cool that they are releasing all these beautiful imagery without any visible watermarks.
I tried it with FF on Windows and IE. In IE, it feels great. With FF, it just sticks and sticks and sticks.
Big mistake my friend... big mistake...
This is the case according to Windows live. Google local reports 8 pizza places within a few kilometers of my house. I do like my pizza.
And man is that Windows Live interface terrible. The scaling of images to zoom in looks terrible.
On that note, I will continue to use Google.
That's because they persisted your scratch pad in the URL. I really like this feature as it allows me to share a scratch pad via a link without any server identity.
For me, the way Microsoft manages the search data is what makes Virtual Earth preferable to Google Maps. For example, when you interact with a map, the search results auto-update to reflect the current visible map.
And obviously greater coverage would be much appreciated.
The greater coverage will come as Pictometry scales up to fly over more cities. Their website mentions each pixel equates to roughly 6 inches on the ground. That's a lot of imagery to collect over major metropolitan areas. 8 bits per pixel, covering several thousand square kilometers at that resolution with 4 different viewing angles is a lot of data.
I'd like to see more geospatial information. Lat/Lon coordinates (at least WGS-84), height (ellipsoid or MSL), etc.
DMCA - Chilling free speech since 1998.
Looks like Gates has dug up the corpse of Sidewalk, sewn it back together, and is now presenting it as something shiny and brand new.
Yeah, MS has come up with some pretty cool things here, and google's got some pretty cool things there. In a world without patents, both sites would end up with the same pretty cool things and then they would move on to NEW new cool things to do.
Aside from UI issues, biggest gripe comparing MS to GOOG... google knows which side of the street even numbers are on, MS doesn't.
Personally, I prefer the term gFanBoy.
Yeah Biotch, i gots your docss..!!! I'll send a penny to the person who posts the defcon voice bbs line number. 801...
Good thing they don't have a Bird's Eye View of Chicago, nobody lives in that tiny town. Give me Lexington, KY any day!
That's just jealousy talking. It's quite beautiful.
The entire city of Los Angeles suffered a BSD after the launch of Windows Live Local, a new mapping service by Microsoft.
Liberty is not granted to me as a privilege, it is my due.
Bill Gate's huge pad. Neet.
I did the same exact hybrid view of a location, it was the identical satellite photo, but not identical quality. The Google picture honestly did look clearer, the Microsoft picture had a more 'tan' tone to it.
:)
The Windows 'Welcome' popup box was very unimpressive. London, England did not work in WinLive zoomed all the way in (you get faded camera icons with slashes through them,) Google Maps worked fine all the way zoomed in to Parliament Square.
WinLive gave me an 'Orbitz' popup ad when I did a new search, Google Maps did not give me any popup ads to X out of. Overall, Google was a better experience, in my opinion.
The best is Google Earth. Nothing is as cool as spinning the world on its axis
http://earth.google.com/images/earth2.jpg
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I love this one.. http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=aN.34.143119_-77.915 445_road%20lake..%20make%20up%20your%20mind_
witch to areial view and zoom out till you can see the pic...
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
windows live
- IE is smooth as silk
- Firefox is all sticky and wierd
google
- IE smooth
- Firefox smooth
Very nice and subtle there microsoft, make it work on firefox but make it kinda of crappy so when someone uses (accidently) IE to view your stuff, they'll go "holy shit! IE is so much smoother and faster at the interweb! Order me 10 copies of Vista to go!"
Sure, I give them full credit for copying what Google did. Good job Microsoft!
ayottesoftware.com
Aside from the cool factor, i don't see the image itself being useful outside of special circumstances like, hey look, there is my house. Now if the images were projected corrected and orthoreferenced with a statement of accuracy, then it would be a different story.
Tonights forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely-scattered light towards morning
Actually, Microsoft had terraserver.microsoft.com in 1999, showing what could be done with SQL7.
Everything else has been a copy of that, if you want to go that route.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
http://stj.msn.com/br/om/js/s_code.js
thats actually flagged by anti-spyware programs as a threat
you know ?, from the same company that was involved in the verisign wildcard redirect webbug, and you think Doubleclick is bad,
and they want you to bookmark their site ? , iam more likely to add them to the firewall, the thing isnt even finished yet and already Microsoft want to track and bug your everymove as if cross site cookie exploits are not enough.
Trust is a bitch to regain, anything to do with MSN is a privacy and security risk (see where msie goes to first (only once) after a fresh install on windows) and should be treated with same contempt as they have for you
anything MS do on the web is cold, hence they "dont get it"
--$
Your post was good until you said "probably more credit then Google FanBoys at Slashdot will grant them" - are you purposely trying to be an ass to the Slashdot audience?
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
They deserve that credit for their maps and satelite imagery. Even though I think Microsoft was working on something like this before GMaps came out, I'm sure VE would have been much different without GMaps.
But they deserve credit for Bird's Eye View, which no one else is doing and is more useful than satellite imagery when its available. I still think Google Earth is the most fun of the three, but Bird's Eye View is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.
The adding/deleting pushpins feature is decently helpful, works pretty well, and getting closer to a feature I really want to see added to ANY of these map services.... WAYPOINTS! I can't tell you the number of times I've needed directions from point A to point B, but needed to get there via some point C in the middle. I want to be able to easily map my route from Maryland to North Carolina by way of Kansas, dangit!
for reference the address entered was "camano hill rd, camano island, wa".
for an urban location in san jose, ca, live gets down to 30 yards, and google 200 feet.
Hey gFanboy Google bought all of that technology. GMaps bought. GEarth bought. Seems like people like you have selective criticism of large companies buying technology. In this case MS developed all of this in house. Google bought it all.
People say the same thing about Google Earth and Google Maps satellite imagery, but I use those all the times in useful ways. And this imagery is more useful. When I'm going somewhere, its great to be able to see what it looks like first. Itd be perfect for checking out a neighborhood when looking for an apartment/house, for exploring an area to bike/hike (if its in a metro area), and for looking for places to park, and just for fun.
While nothing in the maps space is as big of a step forward in terms of usefulness as the first online maps and directions were (draggable maps certainly comes closest), I think this is still a big step forward for maps and people will find many creative uses for it.
It does not work in Windows Live, but it does with Google Maps.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I really love the right click features - getting directions to and from places you don't know the exact addresses of are a godsend.
To be fair, I think Google was already doing significant work on Google Maps before they acquired Keyhole. I'm sure the Keyhole people helped with a lot of the final touches and the integration of satellite imagery, but Google would still have released Google Maps (sans satellite) without the Keyhole acquisition.
But I do agree that Microsoft should get credit when they deserve it (which in this case I think they do)
The team that built Google maps was acquired by google. A small mapping company from australia. Keyhole was a seperate purchase. Neither technology was developed by Google. But so what?
When will one of these start mapping other countries? I'd love to use google maps Australia. For now all I can tell is that it has a nice interface, many users such as myself really don't know if any of these online map services will be useful to them.
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+offers+a+new+angle+o n+maps/2100-1032_3-5986057.html?tag=nefd.top
i d=2047
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_
Directions Mag is/will probably provide a deeper analysis since it target specifically the geospatial domain, not general technology.
Animoog.org
Found Located in the settings box.
[]Don't ask about installing Microsoft Location Finder
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Even if it wouldn't be seamless, it seems they could still offer the option of scrolling around multiple photos in a mosaic format. Maybe they don't want to break the illusion that you are in this space by allowing you to have a mosaic view of all photos available in an area. Maybe someone can create this (though Microsoft will probably shut it down like Google shut down the Google Maps poster maker).
There's actually a reason why MS did what they did with the Bird's Eye imagery. Since it was taken at an angle (it's an oblique aerial photo), the edges of the images won't necessarily mosaic with the edges of the other images properly, giving us a weird, multi-perspective view. Some buildings would lean on way, while others would lean the opposite, even if they were neighbors.
Granted, this happens in vertical aerial photos like those Google has and MS has in their aerial photo section. However, this "leaning tower" effect is minimized because of the angle of the photo and special methods used to reduce such distortion (known as orthorectification). As such, orthophotos can be panned and scrolled without too much oddness, whereas oblique aerial photos (MS's Bird's Eye view) will look extremely awkward and thus will probably be stuck in a sort of static viewing mode.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
No love for mac users, eh? The only thing that loads in Safari is the title bar.
I didn't think generalizing that the average Slashdotter is a Google FanBoy made one an ass? Its a common topic here that Slashdotters salivate over Google products and stories like no other and that Google gets a lot of credit for even minor innovations. I assumed that Slashdotters would be thick-skinned enough to be accused of giving too much or too little credit in particular areas. Just look at how positive the response was to the anemic Google Talk. Can you imagine Microsoft or Yahoo coming into an already crowded market like that with a product lacking so many established features and not being criticized much more harshly?
I think the whole "I like Google, so other people shouldn't bother" mentality is too common and Microsoft should be criticized for its many flaws, but praised when they deserve it, which I think they do for Bird's Eye View imagery. Sorry if I offended you, but I still don't think my comments are the least bit harsh.
For example, the pictures of my home, are the same photos used by Google, and they are at least 3 years old (there is a bridge that has been hand drawn into the image on both maps).
However, the "Birds Eye View" of my workplace is a recent picture (within the past years, probably a Saturday or Sunday during the past summer).
It would be especially useful to know if the images you are looking at are recent or if things have changed significantly since that time. Some things, ie housing developments, change rather quickly compared to the photography. Bert
I've also been very impressed with how quickly the Google Earth team has innovated in Google Earth. They took an excellent product and improved it in many ways very quickly and even integrated the Google look in ways that make it clear both Google Earth and Google Picasa are definitely "made" by the same company.
I am going to fuckin short GOOG now and GOOG closed at $410.65, $6.43 higher than previous close.
When it was virtualearth.msn.com, it worked on Safari. Now virtualearth.msn.com redirects to this and this doesn't work.
I was using virtualearth exclusively. Now I'm using Google maps. Way to go MS!
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Microsoft's has pulled that trick often, but they haven't been doing it's "sister" site, live.com. When it was first came out it worked like crap in FF but included a note saying "coming soon for Firefox". Now it works great in Firefox, and in my opinion its even better than the Google offering it competes with. I doubt they've abandoned Embrace and Extend, but this is probably Microsoft acknowlodging that Firefox is too big to ignore (or maybe that IE's suckiness is too great to ignore).
Part of the intent of the Microsoft "live" offerings is to get back it's legitmacy with a demographic that uses non-IE browsers almost exclusively. They simply can't accomplish that goal without coding for Firefox.
My guess is that they will eventually work out the kinks so that it works equally well in Firefox if not better. Of course, who's to say that it isn't part of a secret, much-more-cunning "Embrace" phase - whereby they woo the firefox users away from google apps, and then start offering windows-only firefox extensions. I wouldn't put it past 'em.
I was referring to the maps web interface, not the database. I thought that's what we were comparing.
ayottesoftware.com
Hey MSFanboy, don't get me started on the technology that MS has bought, copied and stolen over the years. They're not innocent.
In this case MS developed all of this in house.
What database backend is MS using, SQL Server? Bought.
ayottesoftware.com
And many university libraries had maps online even before Terraserver!
Remember, the corporate world is almost always a decade or two behind where the academic world is.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
So was the lake drained to build the road??
---
crm114
You can bet that the images have a soft watermark though
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
I guess I just don't understand why a comment like that is necessary at all. We know that with every forum, there's going to be groups of people that sway one way or another. They're often the loudest. It might seem like most users of a forum think one way, but it's often the case that it's just a fraction of the total population. So you're posting a generalized negative comment about Slashdot users, on Slashdot. Why bother.
There's a lot of fine posters on Slashdot, and unfortunately that number is steadily declining. But, there's still a lot of good thoughtful posts in nearly every topic, and if you sift through the groupthink posts that are front-loaded on the topic, it's pretty easy to uncover the meat.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Yes, coverage is very sharp and wonderful. Odd though, there's a forest where my 6-year-old subdivision should be. Now, I don't live in the center of the [tech] world that is California, but I would think a metro area of over a million people would have pictures from more recent than a decade ago (most of the areas on that list don't).
Rex is 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
But, terraserver is very similar to the current satellite map systems - albiet using the lower quality images available at the time and with browser capabilities circa 1999.
The only thing that's really different, besides the ability to load your own waypoints and data, is the mouse dragging.
I do fully agree that without a push from competition, Microsoft does almost nothing new. Every once in awhile, they do release something neat, albiet somewhat half-assed and never updated, like terraserver. It's very dangerous to have a company like that in monopoly, and I'm glad there's pressure from Google, open source, etc to keep them moving forward at least a little.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Microsoft products never benefits end-users.
I accidentally used the mouse wheel, and was surprised by it zooming in and out, actually that is quite nice. Try it ;-)
This is sweet! Holding down middle click allows you to draw a box and zoom into that region!
HD Trailers
Windows is going live with a 'new online local search and mapping service. [...] The final word on which service is better remains to be seen but this competition will certainly benefit the end-users.
I think this is the first time I have ever seen the words "Windows" and "competition" in the same story on Slashdot. *rubs eyes*
The damn thing doesn't work with Firefox
Oh wait a second...
Live, local, and latebreaking
Mictrosoft does it again. They forgot completely about Canada. The only thing that shows up in the search is Ontario Power Generation, because lord knows, if New York State could not tap into our power grid, bad things would happen! But seriously, I searched for the CN Tower, and it told me no dice!! On google I get PICTURES taken from and of the CN Tower. MS, pull up your pants, and get with it!!
Much agreeance there. That was actually one of the reasons I bought a copy of Microsoft Streets and Trips a couple years ago. Whether it's because you don't know the address, the maps aren't quite up to date, or that you're trying to get around some data wonkiness (Ever been in one of those cities which has four streets with the same name, but in different parts of the city and entirely unconnected to each other?). The slightly transparent directions pad gets a thumbs-down from me though. The transparency is just enough to create a visual distraction in the background, not enough that you can actually see relevant details behind it.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
no the lake is still there.. but the road is no where near it.. infact if you look around that area none of the roads line up with the map at all
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'