Microsoft has come up with an online three-dimensional mapping function that provides detailed views of major US cities.

Published: 08 Nov 2006

Microsoft has come up with an online three-dimensional mapping function that provides detailed views of major US cities.

Microsoft’s Virtual Earth 3D map service is built into its Live Search page at http://live.com and provides bird's eye three-dimensional model perspectives of locations. Microsoft reportedly claimed that the technology offers photorealistic 3D models with engineering-level accuracy.

3D models are available initially only for 15 US cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and Fort Worth.

As per the information available, the Virtual Earth maps offer real-time traffic information and business listings, and will include “virtual billboards”.

“By helping people visualise information in far more useful and intuitive ways, Virtual Earth 3D takes search to an entirely new level,” Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said.

“The release of Virtual Earth 3D is a significant step toward creating a truly new dimension in search not only in the look and feel of the experience but in the way consumers and advertisers can be involved,” said Microsoft vice president Steve Berkowitz.

It is being acknowledged that Virtual Earth will challenge the Google Earth online mapping, in which users get the illusion of sweeping down to selected spots on the planet from above, while tapping into Google’s database of services for the area.

According to local media, in addition to the aerial photographs already provided by mapping companies, “ground teams” of vans equipped with multiple cameras are driving around major US cities taking millions of photographs. The (ambitious) next step for Virtual Earth 3D is a street-level map that you can walk through, seeing actual buildings and storefronts. Ultimately, Microsoft hopes to integrate this with the online outlets of individual stores to allow someone to sit at their computer at home, and enjoy a walk down the Las Vegas strip, then fly over to the shopping district, wander into a clothing outlet, and purchase a new shirt - all without ever having left their chair, reported local media.