Microsoft adds 3D content to Virtual Earth

Virtual Earth 3D will be available as an optional view in Windows Live Local Search

Microsoft has unveiled a new map component of its Windows Live service which it claims will make the service more visually appealing and intuitive.

The Virtual Earth 3D content will be available as an optional view in Windows Live Local Search, Microsoft's browser-based mapping and navigation service.

Initially, the 3D content will be available for 15 US cities including San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles. Microsoft expects to have content for over 100 cities worldwide by September 2007.

One of the main highlights of Virtual Earth is the highly detailed landscapes. Buildings are presented in realistic colours and textures, a process that would normally require large amounts of time and millions of dollars.

Competing services such as Google Earth are based on satellite photos, whereas Microsoft uses aerial photography.

Stephen Lawler, general manager of Microsoft's Virtual Earth business unit, told vnunet.com that last spring's acquisition of mapping firm Vexcel provided access to new mapping and image-gathering technology. 

The technology allowed the company to automate and streamline the 3D modelling process for the cities, allowing for faster and cheaper creation.

Unlike the standalone Google Earth, Microsoft has chosen to make Virtual Earth browser-based.

The company will allow users to incorporate their own mash-up content on top of Virtual Earth 3D. A similar service is also available for the current version of Windows Live Local.

The fact that Windows Live and Virtual Earth will be browser-based could give Microsoft an advantage over Google in bringing in new users, according to Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence.

"It makes it a lot more accessible," Sterling told vnunet.com. "What Microsoft is doing is bringing the richness of [Windows Live] plus all this 3D stuff into the browser window." 

Sterling sees Virtual Earth 3D not simply as a search or mapping tool, but as a move towards a visual, 3D internet. He points to the success of such 3D communities as Second Life and World of Warcraft as examples.

"There will be a way to navigate the internet visually. With the rise of these visually rich environments you've got video online, more graphical richness, more visual information," said Sterling.

"I think the idea of combining these visual worlds with mapping is very interesting."

Microsoft said that keeping the illusion of a virtual world was even considered in the way advertising is displayed.

Advertisements will be included in Virtual Earth, but Lawler explained that they will be incorporated into the environment as items such as billboards on top of buildings.
Sue Feldman, a research vice president at IDC, praised the advertising system.

"It gives you more advertising space and, in terms of what's going on in the digital marketplace today, it's a good idea," she told vnunet.com. "If Microsoft does it well, the advertising will be an enhancement."