InsideMicrosoft

Virtual Earth Is Live

MSN Virtual Earth is now live and running. First impressions are solid, more to come.

UPDATE: Sadly, just like when I reviewed MSN Local and Maps, my feelings are influenced heavily by Google Maps, and all I can do is compare to Google’s excellent product. Thankfully for Microsoft, Virtual Earth does a lot better.

Google Maps is excellent. It does mapping right, with no refreshes, dragging, and satellite photos. It doesn’t do much wrong. What it does do wrong, MSN Virtual Earth gets right.

Virtual Earth loads maps faster than Google Maps. Virtual Earth scrolls better. Virtual Earth zooms on double-clicks. Virtual Earth displays street names on aerial photos, something Google Maps only started doing yesterday, and doesn’t do accurately at all. Virtual Earth shows the names of important places on the aerial view. Virtual Earth has a full-screen interface. Virtual Earth has a scratch pad. Virtual Earth can figure out your location. Virtual Earth overlays information, like search results, on the map, instead of taking screen real estate away from it, and those boxes can be shrunk down. Virtual Earth lists scale. Virtual Earth lets you run multiple searches at once.

Of course, there are things Virtual Earth doesn’t do as good as Google. The aerial views are just too dark to be usable, and may prove a big turn-off to those who’ve grown used to Google’s brightly colored maps.

Uh, that’s it. I can’t find any other obvious faults. MSN Virtual Earth is the link between Google Maps and Google Earth. It has the maturity Google Maps lacks and is far more well-rounded. While Google Maps mey have a prettier satellite view, Virtual Earth has a usable aerial view, and that is more important.

It may not be 3D, but it has plenty of features Google Earth has. While Google Maps may be popular, MSN Virtual Earth is more robust, and should get a lot of converts. Hopefully, Microsoft has made the system versatile enough to be embedded in web pages like Google Maps.

So, simply? Virtual Earth is better than Google Maps, and is your best bet if you won’t or can’t install Google Earth. In terms of web-based maps, MSN has made a slam dunk.

UPDATE 2: MSN has built a spectacular community site around Virtual Earth. ViaVirtualEarth.com has instructions on building Virtual Earth into web pages, a message board, a dev blog, a FAQ, and some links.

There’s the “LoBlog“, which is a sample of how MSN Spaces users can blog places, integrating the map with their space with little effort. Spectacular!

Its important to remember that some bugs are expected, and I’m evaluating just the capabilities and demonstrated working abilities of Virtual Earth.

The FAQ says:

Q. Is Virtual Earth Microsoft’s answer to Google Maps?
A. No, it seems not. My understanding is that this project has been in progress for some considerable time. The Mappoint team has been working on Virtual Earth since the beginning of the year. It would appear that components of the project have been in development for much longer than this.

UPDATE 3: Neville Hobson has the details on Virtual Earth’s Location Finder application. See, Virtual Earth’s “Locate Me” button can find you simply with your IP address, but Location Finder is designed to be a lot more accurate, at least as much as can be without GPS. Location Finder works by scanning the wi-fi access points in your area and triangulating your location based on them. Obviously, not so great if there aren’t many access points nearby, but in Manhattan I bet it can be damn near accurate.

And who says MS has no original ideas?

Also, Location Finder works just fine in Europe, he says. As I should have mentioned earlier, Virtual Earth does not have great map data on non-US locations. Of course, Google Maps launched with only the US as well, so a fair judgement has to assume the rest of the world is coming later, just like with Google.

UPDATE: Jason notes in the comments that Virtual Earth doesn’t have driving directions, that they just direct you to the MSN Maps and Directions website. Okay, that’s a big omission, and a huge leg up for Google Maps. MSN needs to fix that, since it has said that Virtual Earth is supposed to replace Maps and Directions eventually.

July 25th, 2005 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | MSN, General | 8 comments