Virtual Earth For Public Sector: Blog

Virtual Earth for the Environment

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:34:08 GMT

I am surprised that the Microsoft Environmental team still talks to me. They launched a really cool Microsoft Environment site back in May and I have been remiss in sharing that with my Virtual Earth for Public Sector readers. The site shares how Microsoft and its partners use innovative technologies and responsible business practices to address environmental challenges worldwide. And if I am writing about it, you know that Virtual Earth is well-represented.

The site can be found here. Look for the following Virtual Earth related information:

Sungevity Uses Virtual Earth to Quickly, Remotely Assess Customer Sites. Solar power has enormous potential. But so far it’s not living up to that potential. In the U.S., for instance, solar provides less than 1 percent of the nation’s energy needs. That’s in part because solar energy installations for homes are typically custom-made, expensive units. What’s needed is a new way to market and install solar energy. "Solar is going to be huge, but to get there it needs to smarten up its game," says Danny Kennedy, CEO of Sungevity, a solar-energy startup that is looking to take that step. Based in Berkeley, Calif., and founded in 2008, Sungevity is aiming to become, as Fortune magazine called it, "the Dell of solar energy," using technology to create new efficiencies and better service customers. A key part of that is the way Sungevity takes advantage of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth global mapping platform to lower the cost of solar energy installation, help homeowners easily see the value of solar energy, and make its usage more widespread. Read full article here.
Virtual Earth Brings Limited Water Resource into Focus. In 2007, the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) in Victoria, Australia engaged Geomatic Technologies, a Microsoft partner and specialist in location-based business intelligence, to develop a Groundwater Management Unit Inventory. The new Microsoft Virtual Earth-based groundwater management tool is designed to overcome a simple but daunting problem: mapping out areas of intensive groundwater use, determining management actions for stressed aquifers, and making that information quickly and widely available. Read full article.

Microsoft Technology Powers Environmental Crisis–Response Tool. When a crisis strikes, timing is an organization's greatest resource, and often means the difference between containment and escalation. Enter JEPRS, the Joint Emergency Planning & Response System.JEPRS is a crisis and incident management solution developed by Infusion Development, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. JEPRS connects all critical stakeholders, including Disaster Managers, Operations Managers, and Field First Responders with common operating information about a crisis that they can access anytime, anywhere. The 3-D mapping capabilities of Microsoft Virtual Earth combined with the data power of Microsoft SharePoint make JEPRS an extremely effective tool for managing environmental events. Read full article here.

Environmental Protection Agency Improves Data Visualization with Mapping Technology. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for ensuring public access to environmental information associated with facilities and sites across the country. For years, EPA provided a Web-based data-access tool that combined facility-level environmental information with online maps. However, the technology in use provided only static maps with limited interactive functionality. EPA recently replaced its outdated technology with Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ technology, which offers high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, dramatically faster response times, and easy integration with environmental data sets. As a result, EPA expects a more consumer-friendly data resource, an innovative foundation for future growth, and a more efficient IT platform. Full case study here.
European Environment Agency and Microsoft Eye on Earth Observatory Bring European Beach Quality Into Sharp Focus. Microsoft Corp and the European Environment Agency (EEA) today announced the launch of the pioneering Eye on Earth online environmental observatory with the first of its resources, Water Watch. Eye on Earth is part of a five-year collaboration between the EEA and Microsoft that will ultimately gather together critical information, including European water soil, air and ozone indicators, into one place. From today, Eye on Earth allows governments, policymakers and individuals to compare the cleanliness of bathing water from sites across 27 European countries, giving people the power to choose where they swim and to influence their environment. Read full story.

While you're out on the site, be sure to check out the other articles, case studies and information on how Microsoft is actively striving to be a good steward for the environment by adhering to sound environmental principles and business practices.

Virtual Earth UltraCam ortho-imagery can now be licensed for offline use!

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:15:49 GMT

I am often asked by public sector customers about the ability to consume Virtual Earth imagery outside of Virtual Earth. This was recently made possible within ESRI ArcGIS tools and is now made possible completely offline through two new resellers, i-cubed and MapMart.com. The following are points from an announcement that was distributed late last week.

Why is the Virtual Earth team licensing imagery for offline use?

Our high-resolution UltraCam ortho-imagery is prized for GIS, urban planning, engineering and other applications that are often performed in offline desktop environments, yet our existing Virtual Earth offerings prohibit any offline use of our data. By offering our data in an offline mode, we complement our online Virtual Earth web service offerings, increase Microsoft and Virtual Earth brand awareness worldwide, and generate revenues. These groundbreaking deals are the first milestone in Virtual Earth's monetization of MS-owned geospatial products for offline use.

How is this Being Done?

Our resellers will host the data and provide sales, marketing and fulfillment services. We selected i-cubed, LLC and Mapmart.com as our first resellers. Both are top-notch companies with proven leadership in the geodata markets, and we’re excited to have them lead our channel sales.

· i-cubed, LLC is a top-tier provider of imagery, data distribution software, and image processing services to governments and commercial entities worldwide. As the exclusive data provider for ESRI’s ArcGIS users who want to use data locally, they will offer VE’s UltraCam imagery through the ESRI platform (Beta) and through a standalone web site they’ll launch in the coming weeks.

· MapMart.com is a high volume geodata provider with strong experience in the prosumer market. They just launched VE’s UltraCam data on their website last week. Their announcement can be read here: http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/5334/2/

What’s Available and Who Needs it?

Currently we have over 200 cities of mosaicked color airborne imagery collected at 6” nominal resolution, averaging less than two years old. The 6” spatial resolution rivals any large-scale commercial source today, and our newest processing techniques produce orthomosaics with almost no building lean in the image--invaluable for unobstructed views into areas with tall buildings, etc. As Microsoft acquires and processes imagery for more cities around the world, the archive is expected to grow substantially. This imagery is invaluable for urban planners, GIS analysts, and the prosumer geospatial market. We expect municipalities, engineering firms, emergency response agencies, and utilities to be core customers.

Microsoft Virtual Earth & Photosynth: Coming Together

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:35:49 GMT

Here's a technology I really haven't discussed much on the Virtual Earth for Public Sector blog (shame on me).

Until now, Photosynth was a Live Labs research project that you could just get a glimpse of through a technology preview web site. But the Photosynth team was recently moved into the Virtual Earth team and has released an official Photosynth site that allows you to not only view Photosynth collections hosted there, but to add your own. Time to bring it to the attention of Public Sector customers, given its ability to allow for images collected in the field to be assembled in a manner to then allow the scene to be explored and navigated in a 3D like manner.

So what is Photosynth? Borrowing from the About Photosynth discussion on the site: It is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs--the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet. Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point the photos were taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos.

Providing that experience requires viewing a LOT of data though—much more than you generally get at any one time by surfing someone’s photo album on the web. That’s where our Seadragon™ technology comes in: delivering just the pixels you need, exactly when you need them. It allows you to browse through dozens of 5, 10, or 100(!) megapixel photos effortlessly, without fiddling with a bunch of thumbnails and waiting around for everything to load.

The new Photosynth site hosts some great collections. You can check out some photos of Constitution Hall on the site here. Press the down arrow a few times to see the document in the context of the whole hall. This one of a Boulder tea house illustrates how a complex room can be quickly recorded and easily reviewed and shared, zoom back with the scroll wheel to see the whole room. This Boulder aerial synth is wild ... it shows a great view of Boulder, about 400 of them actually, all automagically assembled into a 3D web accessible collection in a matter of a few hours. Next best thing to buying an UltraCam, Microsoft's large format digital aerial camera, holding it out the window of your plane, and building your own Virtual Town!

[NOTE: Viewing the Photosynth site requires installation of the

The best part: Photosynth will be linking up more with Virtual Earth. For now Photosynth lets you geotag your Synth collections with Virtual Earth, just look for the little button next to the Synth’s viewer window.

Chris Pendleton provides an example of this, code and all, in his Virtual Earth Developer's blog. Meanwhile, you can see an instructional video on collecting imagery and creating the Synth collection.

Webinar: Deep Dive into Enterprise Location Intelligence

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:13:56 GMT

Mark your calendars for August 26th when Microsoft Virtual Earth partner IDV Solutions is conducting a webinar hosted by Directions Media.

The webinar focuses on how to deliver the experience that typical end users in an organization expect when interacting with enterprise applications, and how the GIS community can use IDV Solutions' Visual Fusion and Microsoft's SharePoint to meet those expectations when scaling GIS efforts out to a non-specialist audience. Learn how to maximize the GIS data analysis and data investments you have in ESRI, MapInfo, Intergraph, etc., by using IVD's Visual Fusion and SharePoint, and Virtual Earth as a platform for integrating, sharing and collaborating around your GIS and enterprise data.

Virtual Earth at the ESRI International User Conference

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:40:40 GMT

Quick entry from the show ESRI International User conference here in San Diego. There is a lot of excitement around the newly announced access of Virtual Earth imagery as premium services for the ArcGIS workflow. Including a diagram below to summarize.

The show is going extremely well and Virtual Earth is getting a lot of love both from commercial and public sector organizations. And of course the weather in San Diego is unbelievable. But don't take my word for it ... check out this screenshot from an application from Weatherbug, one of the other vendors I discovered here at the show. The app plots weather stations on Virtual Earth maps that provide users with weather information at those locations as well as web cam shots (where available).

Quite exciting to be at an event and stumble on Virtual Earth lovers!

Microsoft Virtual Earth now at the fingertips of ESRI ArcGIS users

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:23:18 GMT

I am at the Microsoft Federal kickoff meeting this week, where we are looking forward to a great new fiscal year serving Public Sector customers. Seems an appropriate day for the Microsoft Virtual Earth team and ESRI to have announced an enhanced partnership that is going to allow ArcGIS 9.3 users one click access to Virtual Earth maps and imagery to perform data creation, editing, analysis, authoring and map publishing.

At last year's ESRI International User Conference, ESRI pre-announced a REST API to allow ArcGIS 9.3 users to integrate Virtual Earth maps in ArcGIS applications. But as of today, Virtual Earth is directly available as a premium service in the ESRI Desktop product and will be available with ArcGIS Server to follow.

Chris Pendleton, Microsoft Virtual Earth technical evangelist, includes the full press release, some FAQs, and screenshots in his Developer's Blog entry today.

To see this in action, come see us at the ESRI International User conference next week.

ASP.NET Virtual Earth Map Control Released

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:57:04 GMT

Out of the office on travel this week ... blogging could be light. Want to quickly pass on this announcement made today:

ASP.NET Virtual Earth Map Control released Monday, 7/28/08. This map control enables you to provide your website visitors immersive experiences that integrate Microsoft Virtual Earth maps, aerial imagery and bird’s eye view. Now, you can download this free map control and get the functionality of Microsoft Virtual Earth. Just drag and drop this control from Visual Studio toolbox onto your webpage, set-up properties and implement a Virtual Earth map on your web site. Download the new map control from July 2008 CTP of Windows Live Tools here ( http://dev.live.com/tools/). Learn more here (http://dev.live.com/blogs/devlive/archive/2008/07/27/386.aspx)

Create and Export 3D Models to Microsoft Virtual Earth

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:48:25 GMT

Back in February I posted an entry on the acquisition of 3D modeling company, Caligari, by Microsoft. Since that time I have been waiting to share how that acquisition would play into the Virtual Earth platform story.

This week Caligari released trueSpace7.6, putting a fully-featured 3D authoring tool in the hands of anyone who wants it, at no cost! This enables you to create 3D content for Virtual Earth powered applications including Live Search Maps, for trueSpace shared spaces, for use in XNA when developing your own games, and also traditional 3D illustration and animation.

Take a look at this entry from the Virtual Earth 3D blog for a better understanding of the significance of this 3D modeling tool for Virtual Earth applications. This should be of particular interest to those of you who have asked me at various events if Virtual Earth can import other 3D models into its 3D environment.

You now have a powerful tool, at no cost, to do this.

Note the ability to create and explore building interiors and the realism that can be accomplished. I would say Virtual Earth just became an even better platform for creating training and simulation applications.

IDV Virtual Earth/Silverlight Demo

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:10:00 GMT

Virtual Earth for Government blog readers are by now well familiar with Microsoft partner IDV Solutions and its Visual Fusion Suite offering that allows customers to build visual composite applications that integrate customer data with the Virtual Earth mapping platform. And since you are, you also know how slick these applications have always been. An early Virtual Earth "integrator" (if I may say use that word), IDV has in many ways set the bar early on for intuitive and visually appealing user interfaces for business intelligence mapping applications. In the past, this was often accomplished using FLASH technology but recently IDV unveiled a mapviewer demo that utilizes Microsoft Silverlight technology. Silverlight is a programmable web browser plug-in that provides support for rich Internet applications such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback.

The demo features an enhanced navigation interface that, among other things, provides an almost 3D-like map control over Virtual Earth 2D views. You can rotate the map to orient the view to your liking, a feature that I would like to see added to our Virtual Earth powered Live Search Maps someday so that I can view my driving directions with my target destination shown at the top of the map which currently always denotes north. This would keep me from making the wrong left and right turns I sometimes make along my drive because I am following a route in my mind that was mapped with north positioned top screen while I am actually driving south. (Okay ... remember that I'm a marketing guy.) John Nelson of IDV discusses the demo's navigation scheme in more detail here in his blog.

Additionally, the demo provides slick annotation capabilities. A description of this can also be found on IDV's blog (here) so I won't cover it all, but I would like to quickly call out a particularly cool feature which is the ability to create what I am going to call multi-point polygons. You can trace an area on the map to create a filled polygon, much as you might in Live Search Maps using the polygon tool there, but IDV provides the ability to add to the trace what they are calling "tics" and users of Adobe products might consider "nodes" ... points along that line that can be added, deleted but more importantly adjusted to provide a highly precise outline. Wow. I like the user empowerment!

For those of you who still insist on providing maps to your users that are locked down and don't provide the interaction found with a Virtual Earth powered web site, this demo provides the ability to export to KML. It also allows you to export your drawings as an SQL Server 2008-ready spatial script.

Read John's blog entries and then take some time to have some fun with the demo. You will need to have the latest addition of Silverlight installed and can get that here.

Virtual Earth in NYC Transit Application

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:01:39 GMT

Just ran across this article written about the Virtual Earth powered Trip Planner for the New York City Transit in my Outlook inbox and want to quickly share. Regular readers will remember that I blogged on this some time ago, but this makes an interesting read and my Virtual Earth colleague, Kevin Adler, is quoted.

NYC Transit Uses Digital Maps and 3-D Modeling to Help Travelers

Jun 20, 2008, By David Raths

I live in a suburb of Philadelphia. This morning as I planned a business trip to New York for next week, I went online to New York City Transit's Trip Planner to figure out how I would make my way from Penn Station to the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers at 7th Avenue and West 53rd Street.

Entering my starting point and destination quickly brought up several public transportation options along with walking directions from the closest subway stops.

New features recently added to the Trip Planner make the experience much more immersive for users and reduce the likelihood that visitors will end up calling Metropolitan Transit Authority's NYC Transit agency seeking help. The updated Trip Planner includes aerial and three-dimensional views of the city. Users can get now get walking directions and print walking maps from the closest subway stop to their destination. By using Microsoft Virtual Earth and map data from Navteq, NYC Transit says it is able to provide a more realistic view of the street grid than it previously could, making it easier for users to visualize the walking instructions.

More Detailed Maps
Like other public transit and departments of transportation around the country, NYC Transit is taking advantage of its own databases and enhanced mapping capability to empower citizens to take better advantage of transportation systems.

NYC Transit began offering the online Trip Planner in late 2006, when the agency switched the database software used by call takers in its own travel information center to a product called Transit Information System (ATIS), from Trapeze Software Inc. Agency staff wrote Trip Planner as an interface to the ATIS database and made the interface available online to the public.

"We needed a product that was scalable and Windows-based. At the same time, we realized we needed a good online tool," Fleuranges said. "We provide information to a huge number of users, so it was important to get in the game with trip planning."

A team from NYC Transit's staff of 16 Internet developers wrote Trip Planner as an interface to the ATIS database in 2006, said Sohaib Mallick, senior director of Internet technologies at NYC Transit. The same team worked on the Virtual Earth mapping upgrade and a feature that allows users to use Trip Planner from mobile devices.

Enhancements to Trip Planner using Microsoft's Virtual Earth platform allow for accurate 3D city modeling, Mallick said, and the map data from Navteq, a digital map provider, is much more detailed than the data previously provided by Trapeze. The new version makes zooming in and out easier as well. NYC Transit's Internet Technologies Group programmed the application to allow users to overlay the subway routes and stations on the street grid. The project to add Virtual Earth and Navteq features took the Internet team only a few weeks in January before going live in February 2008, Mallick said. Although he declined to provide detailed cost figures, Mallick did say the expense was minimal because the agency is on a transactional licensing model.

Fred Benjamin, assistant vice president for customer service, said the Trip Planner pays dividends to the agency. "Since December 2006 we have seen a 193 percent increase in unique visitors to our Web site," he said. "We had 1.3 million visitors in 2007 and 185,000 in January, so the number of customers we're serving keeps growing."

Additionally, people getting directions through self service instead of calling for help translates into cost savings, and Benjamin said his agency has started work to quantify them. For instance, the abandonment rate on calls-people who get tired of waiting on hold-has dropped dramatically. "This is allowing our call center to handle calls from substantially more people, and we can redeploy some staffers who previously answered phones."

Making the Portal Interactive
Trip Planner improvements are just one of many enhancements to NYC Transit's Web site. Riders can use Trip Planner not just from PCs but from mobile devices as well.

Through the portal, users can get real-time information about elevator and escalator outages. Alerts provide riders with information on unplanned disruptions in subway service, and users can sign up to receive e-mail notifications of planned construction work. Advisories, which detail information on planned service disruptions, are attached to all itinerary requests. Users can send e-mails directly to individuals assigned responsibility for customer service by rail line, and they can read the results of rider customer service report card survey results.

"With the portal we try to offer as much information as we can, because we recognize it has become a vital tool for people said Paul Fleuranges, NYC Transit's vice president of corporate communications. "We always offered directions and fare structures online, but we have made a big push in the last three years to improve on that."

Kevin Adler, geospatial solutions specialist from Microsoft, said one of the neat things to realize about the Trip Planner upgrade is that the agency "built it themselves and have made it much more of an immersive experience. They are not geospatial specialists, yet they can create something quite sophisticated-for instance, using a tool called Mapcruncher to overlay subway routes on city maps."

Adler said he likes to see public-sector customers able to innovate. For instance, in Texas both the El Paso and Houston areas have created portals that allow members of the public to check on traffic flow, accidents, camera views of highways, and message signs-with all data overlaid on maps.

"These examples are enabling public agencies to better expose their data to citizens," Adler said. The cities can visualize their data on top of our maps, and they can focus on their data."

Other transit agencies around the country are looking at ways to use GIS and global positioning system (GPS) technology to enhance their trip planners. For instance, TriMet, the public transit agency in the Portland, Ore., area has added a feature called TransitTracker that provides real-time bus and light-rail train arrival times that riders can access online, on the street and over the phone. By equipping every TriMet bus with a GPS transmitter, the agency can relay to users exactly how far a bus is from their stop.

Powered by Google Maps and map data from Tele Atlas, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Boston-area trip planner allows riders to add to their itinerary map landmarks such as museums, shopping centers and hospitals, with walking directions and their distance from the nearest subway stop.

NYC Transit's Mallick said his team is constantly looking for ways to improve their Trip Planner as well as other interactive features of the agency's portal. "We are always looking at the best and brightest in other regions for ideas," he said, "as well as at the newest technology on the market or about to come on the market."

Virtual Earth Image Updates in July 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:24:36 GMT

This month's imagery update was not quite as large as usual but still quite impressive (14TB) and demonstrates the diligence of the Virtual Earth production team to provide global basemap imagery to bolster your business intelligence applications. Take a look:

USA Aerial Views (15 cm)

· Elizabeth, NJ

· West Allis, WI

· Paterson, NJ

· Pasadena, TX

Europe Aerial Views (20cm)

· Tournai, Belgium

· Aalst. Belgium

· Verviers, Belgium

· Sint Niklass, Belgium

· Hasselt, Belgium

· Genk, Belgium

· Mouscron, Belgium

· Mons, Belgium

· Oostende, Belgium

· Mechelen, Belgium

· Leuven, Belgium

· Kortrijk, Belgium

· La Louviere, Belgium

· Aalborgk, Denmark

· Kolding, Denmark

· Arhus, Denmark

· Copenhagen, Denmark

· Esbjerg, Denmark

· Fredericia, Denmark

· Silkeborg, Denmark

· Roskilde, Denmark

· Randers, Denmark

· Vejle, Denmark

· Odense, Denmark

· Horsens, Denmark

· Herning, Denmark

· Helsingor, Denmark

· Turku, Finland

· Vassa, Finland

· Tampere, Finland

· Pori, Finland

· Oulu, Finland

· Lappeenranta, Finland

· Lahti, Finland

· Kuopio, Finland

· Kotka, Finland

· Jyvaskyla, Finland

· Joensuu, Finland

· Helsinki, Finland

· Hameenlina, Finland

· Munich, Germany

· Hamburg, Germany

· Frankfurt, Germany

· Stuttgart, Germany

· Leipzig, Germany

· Potsdam, Germany

· Bremen, Germany

· Aveiro, Portugal

· Braga, Portugal

· Coimbra, Portugal

· Almada, Portugal

· Faro, Portugal

· Albacete, Spain

· Alcoi, Spain

· Algeciras, Spain

· Bilbao, Spain

· Benidorm, Spain

· Alicante, Spain

· Badajoz, Spain

· Aviles, Spain

· Avila, Spain

· Caceres, Spain

· Burgos, Spain

· Aranjuez, Spain

· Cuidad Real, Spain

· Almeria, Spain

· Zamora, Spain

· Collado Villalba, Spain

· Castellon de la Plana, Spain

· Cuenca, Spain

· Cartegena, Spain

· Donostia San Sebastian, Spain

· Valladolid, Spain

· Elda, Spain

· El Escorial, Spain

· El Ejido, Spain

· Estepona, Spain

· Torrevieja, Spain

· Torrelavega, Spain

· Fuengirola, Spain

· Gandia, Spain

· Gijon, Spain

· Setubal, Spain

· Girona, Spain

· Granollers, Spain

· Granada, Spain

· Guadalajara, Spain

· Guimaraes, Spain

· Segovia, Spain

· Santander, Spain

· Salamanca, Spain

· Palencia, Spain

· Motril, Spain

· Molina de Segura, Spain

· Huelva, Spain

· Jaen, Spain

· Jerez, Spain

· Mataro, Spain

· Leira, Spain

· Leon, Spain

· Linares, Spain

· Lleida, Spain

· Lorca, Spain

· Ferrol, Spain

· Cadiz, Spain

· Arona (Canaries), Spain

· Arrecife (Canaries), Spain

· Wexford, Ireland

· Cork, Ireland

· Galway, Ireland

· Carlow, Ireland

· Limerick, Ireland

· Navan, Ireland

· Eskilstuna, Sweden

· Falun, Sweden

· Boras, Sweden

· Gavle, Sweden

· Goteborg, Sweden

· Vaxjo, Sweden

· Varberg, Sweden

· Uppsala, Sweden

· Umea, Sweden

· Sundsvall, Sweden

· Stockholm, Sweden

· Sodertolje, Sweden

· Skovde, Sweden

· Skellefteo, Sweden

· Ostersund, Sweden

· Ornskoldsvik, Sweden

· Orebro, Sweden

· Norrkoping, Sweden

· Malmo, Sweden

· Lulea, Sweden

· Linkoping, Sweden

· Kungsbacka, Sweden

· Karlskrona, Sweden

· Kalmar, Sweden

· Jonkoping, Sweden

· Helsingborg, Sweden

· Halmstad, Sweden

· Trollhatton, Sweden

· Karlstad, Sweden

· Vasteras, Sweden

· Uddevalla, Sweden

· Fredrikstad, Norway

· Honefoss, Norway

· Narvik, Norway

· Haugesund, Norway

· Skedsmo, Norway

· Trondheim, Norway

· Stavanger, Norway

· Skien, Norway

· Oslo, Norway

· Kristianstad, Norway

· Kristiansand, Norway

· Drammen, Norway

· Luzern, Switzerland

· Lausanne, Switzerland

· Winterthur, Switzerland

GeoEye Satellite Views (1m)

· Midway_Island, USA

· Oahu, Hawaii

· Belfast, N. Ireland

· Tegucigalpa, Honduras

· Guatemala_City, Guatemala

· Manaus, Brazil

· Porto_Alegre, Brazil

· Racife, Brazil

· Luxembourg, Luxembourg

· Irkalion, Greece

· Nicosia, Cyprus

· Esfahan, Iran

· Accra, Ghana

· Lagos, Nigeria

· Podgorica, Montenegro

· Samara, Russia

· Tblisi, Georgia

· Almaty, Kazakhstan

· Ljubjana, Slovenia

· Rabat, Morocco

· Tirana, Albania

· Vilnius, Lithuania

Bird's Eye Views - North America

· Marin Co, CA

· Santa Cruz Co, CA

· Filler South of Fresno, CA (Selma)

· Bay Co, FL

· Bossier Co, FL

· Dougherty Co, GA

· Coeur d'Alene, ID

· Champaign Co, IL

· Filler in De Soto, IL

· St John the Baptist Co, LA

· Rapides Co, LA

· St Tammany Co, LA

· Ouachita, LA

· York Co, ME

· Essex Co, MA

· Boone Co, MO

· Filler in North Springfield, MO

· Comanche Co, OK

· Chickasaw National Recreational Area, OK

· Stephens Co, OK

· New Hanover Co, NC

· Aiken Co, SC

· Berkeley Co, SC

· Horry Co, SC

· Anderson Co, SC

· Tom Green Co, TX

· Smith Co, TX

· Ellis Co, TX

· Palo Pinto, TX

· Salt Lake Co, UT

· Charlottesville Co, VA

· Fredericksburg Co, VA

· Metro Pasco, WA

Bird's Eye Views - Europe

· Berlin, Germany

· Wiesbaden, Germany

· Additional Ruhr Valley (Dortmund), Germany

· Vienna, Austria

· Palma, Spain

· Malaga, Spain

· Aranjuez, Spain

· East of Vittoria, Spain

· Costa Del Sol, Spain

· El Escorial, Spain

· Soria, Spain

· Guipuzcoa, Spain

· Teruel, Spain

· Parque Natural Sierras Subbeticas, Spain

· Huesca, Spain

· Angus Co, UK.

· Calderdale, UK

· Uddevalla, Sweden

· Trollhattan, Sweden

· Skovde, Sweden

· Eskilstuna, Sweden

· Boras, Sweden

Virtual Earth Hi-Res Aerial Imagery: the UltraCamX

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:52:25 GMT

In my last blog entry from Beijing, I focused on the UltraCamX large format digital aerial camera that was highlighted at the ISPRS conference. The UltraCam is a big part of the Virtual Earth story, providing the high resolution aerial imagery found in Virtual Earth (and the Live Search Maps consumer site that it powers) and enables business intelligence applications to bring clarity to customer data by allowing customers to view their data within the context of its location and surroundings.

Mark Brown, product manager for Virtual Earth, is putting together a new Microsoft (MSDN) Channel 9 video series entitled "Behind the Maps." As follow-up to my last posting, I would like to share the following link to his first video in which he interviews the brains behind the UltraCam technologies from our Graz, Austria photogrammetry division, Vexcel Imaging. The interview focuses on the technology behind the industry leading UltraCam as well as the UltraMap data workflow management software.

Note that the video is around 40 minutes in length.

Behind The Maps - UltraCam

Virtual Earth at the ISPRS Congress in Beijing

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:33:57 GMT

In Beijing this week for the XXI Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). This event occurs once every four years in a different international location and brings together delegates from government, commercial and academic organizations from across the globe, eager to learn about the latest developments in photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information services.

While Microsoft is participating at this event primarily to support its photgrammetry division--Vexcel Imaging--and their UltraCamX large format digital aerial camera that provides the high resolution aerial views that can be seen in Virtual Earth (and are used to automatically create the 3D city models), we are also showing Virtual Earth on our plasma in the booth and wowing delegates. This community of photogrammetrists are having a hard time believing that the models are created automatically, given some of the building contours that are more intricate than just a box shape (what they expect from other mapping platforms). Our booth has seen much traffic including Chinese ministers who are followed surrounded by their entourage, including guards and photographers. These officials are spending a good deal of time in the Vexcel Imaging/Microsoft booth learning about Virtual Earth and the photogrammetry products. I am pretty sure that some of our staff snapped some photos and I will try to include in a next blog entry.

In the meantime, I would like to share with you some slightly off topic news (for this blog) by pointing you to the UltraCam web site where we have just announced two new cameras ... the UltraCamXp that is an enhanced version of the UltraCamX, providing a larger image format and higher storage for large scale mapping projects and the UltraCamL which is a medium resolution camera for smaller aircraft and smaller mapping organizations. You can read about them here as well as other news about recent sales including one to the Tenessee Department of Transportation and the sale of the 100th camera to GeoKosmos.

Off to the show floor! More later!

Virtual Earth Based NYCT Trip Planner Surpasses 10K Daily User Milestone

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:50:24 GMT

Not too long ago I posted an entry about the adoption of the Virtual Earth platform by the New York City Transit to power their Trip Planner. The service allows visitors and residents to get walking directions for their travel itinerary within the City and, since February, features Virtual Earth maps for a much richer visualization experience.

The NYCT recently issued the below announcement boasting the success of the easy to use site due to positive customer experience.

MTA NYC Transit Trip Planner Surpasses 10,000-Daily User Milestone

Customers Appreciate Ease of Website

Trip Planner, MTA NYC Transit's online travel itinerary service surpassed a usage milestone recently, logging over 10,000 combined unique visitors to the web-based service http://tripplanner.mta.info/ and mobile service On the Go! http://tripplanner.mta.info/mobile. On an average weekday, more than 10,000 customers are planning travel itineraries through Trip Planner. The program has experienced steady growth in use since the site went live in December 2006, allowing customers to obtain travel itineraries using NYC Transit's subway and bus network, Staten Island Railway and MTA Bus.

"Trip Planner has allowed NYC Transit to expand our travel information operations to a digital platform which, in turn, has given us the ability to provide better and more relevant service to a greater number of customers than we could ever do by phone alone," said NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. "Customers can now plan a trip when they want - from the comfort of their home, office or even their web enabled phone or PDA using our Trip Planner mobile service On the Go! It has changed the way we do business," added Roberts.

Customer feedback regarding Trip Planner has been overwhelmingly positive, with many citing the website's ease of use, while others appreciate the three travel options provided with every itinerary request. That high level of customer satisfaction has translated into steady growth in the number of daily users. By the end of last year, more than 5,600 customers used Trip Planner during an average weekday to obtain travel itineraries for destinations within the five boroughs. As of June 19, this year's average weekday use of Trip Planner grew to 10,060, an increase of 170% over the same period in 2007, while average weekend day use grew to 7,906, an increase of 193% when compared to 2007. The use of the Trip Planner mobile service, On the Go!, has also seen steady growth from a daily average of 270 visits in October 2007 to 436 visits during June.

Recent enhancements, including the incorporation of Navteq® Map Data and Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ into Trip Planner provides users with a more realistic street grid view and helps them better visualize the walking instructions that accompany their travel itinerary use. Another recently added feature allows Trip Planner users to overlay the actual area subway routes and stations over the street grid, a feature programmed into the application by NYC Transit's Internet Technologies Group.

Additional planned upgrades to Trip Planner - due to be released by the end of the 3rd quarter of this year - include more robust service advisory information, additional trip planning tools and mapping capabilities.

GoVE: Microsoft's Government Geospatial Data Publishing Initiative

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:44:35 GMT

Some time ago I blogged on a cooperative service that our data acquisition team established to enable Government organizations to distribute their high-quality public domain data through the Virtual Earth platform. The program has been formalized and has been dubbed "GoVE", which I find pretty clever.

My colleague Chris Pendleton provides details in his Virtual Earth Evangelist blog for developers.

Image courtesy of HJW.

Microsoft Virtual Earth at the California Geospatial Executive Conference

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:01:30 GMT

I owe my blog readers an apology for the lack of posting these last 2-3 weeks. June has proven a bit crazy for me with many Virtual Earth and UltraCam activities keeping me busy.

For example, last week I was in Sacramento for the California Geospatial Executive Conference. Hosted by the State's Chief Information Officer, Teri Takai, the event provided a forum for several hundred California public sector executives to come together to learn how government organizations across the country are using GIS to improve data sharing and citizen services.

My role at the event was two-fold: first, manning a table at the Solutions Center where agencies and vendors were showing off their technology enabled solutions. I was of course showing Virtual Earth and using the Miami Gov site (built and recently launched by Microsoft partner IS Consulting working with the City of Miami) to demonstrate the power of Virtual Earth as a user interface, especially for citizens, in this instance, to better understand GIS data (in this case, pulling from an ArcGIS geodatabase) relevant to their community. If you have not seen the application already, take a look at my blog entry. It's very cool.

It was a fun experience because delegates were provided with three poker chips to vote on the "Coolest," "Most Innovative," and "Best" solutions (chips labeled accordingly). I had great fun showing Miami parcel data in Virtual Earth 3D, flying through with my Xbox controller. At the end of the day, I believe that the solutions that received the awards were all CA State agency solutions, my observation was that my Virtual Earth & Miami Gov solution received the lion's share of chips for "Coolest" and "Most Innovative" among the vendors solutions. <grin>

What was also cool about showing this particular demo is that the Virtual Earth product team recently regenerated the Miami city model using its new fully automated processing technology that results in more buildings being modeled, and enhanced, more detailed and realistic texturing. I hadn't considered this until I zoomed in on some parcels in 3D and noticed that the buildings looked incredible (more so than before) and it illustrates a benefit of the Virtual Earth web service model that ye faithful readers of the Virtual Earth Public Sector blog know by now that I consider significant. Because the data is hosted by Microsoft and served up to your business intelligence applications via a web service model, updates are done for you, removing that burden from your organization. No need for your IT staff or users to install or maintain new datasets or applications. When updates are available, users just log on and marvel at the difference just as I did last week. Meanwhile, agencies that require their geospatial applications to be completely "air-gapped" from the Internet have the option of the Virtual Earth Appliance.

My secondary role at the conference was to have the privilege of presenting along side Nate Johnson and Katja Krovoruchko of ESRI. Our presentation focused on the principals, applications and benefits of a GIS system, with me speaking specifically to the benefits of the visualization and dissemination of GIS data by the Virtual Earth platform and best of breed imagery, which is the ability to better understand data within the context of its location to ultimately act on that data in a more timely manner. We punctuated our discussions through several demos showing the value of using the ESRI ArcGIS Server for spatial analysis on the backend and the enhanced understanding of the resulting data by mapping it using Virtual Earth on the front end--a great reminder that when data is plotted on a map, the big picture view makes the geospatial relationship between data points more clear, and trends and patterns become more obvious. From that big picture view, zooming down on a particular point of interest provides better clarity of that datapoint through its location and surroundings.

The presentation and demos were extremely well-received. Because I like to show off with my Xbox controller in the Virtual Earth 3D environment, we showed the plume model demo that I shared with you all previously in this blog entry, underscoring the value of visualization by switching to the Virtual Earth 3D mode once the plume had been modeled, showing how the Virtual Earth accurate imagery and geocoding provides a much clearer understanding of the impact of the plume on the community, which buildings would be affected and those that would not. We also showcased the ability of ESRI's Desktop software along with Virtual Earth to integrate, visualize, and analyze data from a variety of sources (California Department of Health Services, US EPA, census, etc.) and to expose the results of the analysis to all members of the organization, as a web service integrated with Microsoft SharePoint. This is a great demo because for a mapping platform to be truly efficient and cost-effective, it must extend the investments your organization has already made in existing technologies (no demo link to share, unfortunately). Towards the end of this demo, one State executive stood, apologized for interrupting, and announced that we had just demonstrated a capability that his organization had spent years working to accomplish. This was followed by applause from all watching.

It doesn't get much better than that folks.

This was a great event that I look forward to doing again next year. (sorry ... no pics this time).

CIty Of Richmond Virtual Earth/Mapdotnet Parcel Mapper

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:56:40 GMT

Last week the City of Richmond unveiled its public facing Parcel Mapping web site that, via IS Consulting's Mapdotnet Server technology, layers parcel data from an ESRI ArcGIS Server 9.2 geodatabase on the Virtual Earth mapping platform, allowing city planners and citizens alike to query, locate and display property outlines for real estate found in the City of Richmond.

Three query types are supported in the Find Location panel found to the left of the map. Address or Intersection queries use the Virtual Earth location services, while both Owner Name and Map Reference Number queries are issued against Richmond GIS parcels. Selecting the results from either an Owner Name or Map Reference Number query provides a link to detailed parcel information displayed in a separate Property Report window.

What I like about the site is that through the Virtual Earth aerial imagery, you can locate a property that perhaps you don't have an address for, and click directly on it to get parcel information. The parcel outline is filled and a pushpin appears that you can mouse over to get basic parcel info and click on a URL to get a full report. To illustrate, I am including the below screenshots. Meanwhile, you can check out the application itself here.

Virtual Earth Public Sector Customers: Be Heard!

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:00:46 GMT

The Virtual Earth product team is conducting a satisfaction survey and would like you to evaluate the level and quality of services you’re receiving from Microsoft. This information will be used to identify areas where we are doing well and where we need to make improvements. Also, your feedback will help the team prioritize future Virtual Earth feature development and service enhancements.

The survey is being conducted by Akona Consulting, an independent research firm. Unless you choose otherwise, all answers and comments are made anonymously to Microsoft. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes of your time. At the end of the survey, as a token of appreciation, Microsoft will donate $10 to International Services of the Red Cross on your behalf.

I encourage all public sector customers to take advantage of this opportunity to provide feedback directly to Virtual Earth product team. The survey can be found here.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth Platform Selected by Leading State and Regional Agencies in the United States

Thu, 29 May 2008 22:54:49 GMT

Microsoft ran a story today sharing the traction the Virtual Earth platform is gaining with State & Local agencies, in particular for Department of Transportation and transit applications. Readers of the Virtual Earth for Government blog will recognize these public facing portals as Virtual Earth applications that have been faithfully reported here. The announce is a good read and features some quotes from those customers whose applications are featured in the write-up. You can read it on the Microsoft Presspass site here.

You can also get this information and more in a "quick facts" format on the Microsoft Government site here.

Microsoft Virtual Earth: Software Plus Services or SaaS?

Thu, 29 May 2008 22:36:26 GMT

I am going to admit to something embarrassing: I don't think I fully understand what the term "Software plus Services" (S+S) means.

I have heard this term applied to Microsoft technologies that sync-up a desktop software application with an online service. And I have heard it applied to the business strategy of giving customers the choice of how they want their software delivered: via the Internet, through managed hosted services by commercial organizations, and through traditional on-premise services. Curt Kolcun, VP of Microsoft Federal, wrote on this very topic, an article that was published in FCW (Federal Computer Week).

Despite Curt's great write-up, I am still confused.

Because the label S+S is also being used in reference to the Virtual Earth platform. It has been suggested to me that what makes Virtual Earth S+S is the 3D control. This is the 5 MB "plug-in" piece of software that is downloaded and installed on a desktop machine IF the user wants to take advantage of the Virtual Earth 3D environment. I guess this does fit the desktop/online sync-up I mention above. I guess.

It has also been argued to me that it is the flexibility of the Virtual Earth platform as a web service OR as a stand-alone product by way of the Virtual Earth Appliance that makes it Software plus Services. Okay ... I guess this is consistent with S+S as a business strategy. I guess.

Still, to me the beauty of Virtual Earth is the web service delivery model that allows public sector customers to layer business data on Virtual Earth and then rapidly disseminate that data to a broad audience ... anyone that has access to an Internet enabled PC with a web browser. So, citizens in the public library or in a hotel business center can view a government web site to get information within the context of location because they don't need to download and install an application to view the rich satellite and aerial imagery.

And to me, that's Software-as-a-Service.

No matter. I guess what is most important is that it is also proof of Microsoft leading in innovation in this market space; because up until this week our competitor was not doing this. They are now, after recently publishing textured city models resembling our version 1.0 models first introduced 18 months ago. Course, Microsoft has over 250 complete city models to date. And I understand they have been adding aerial imagery to their platform as well. Meanwhile,we have aerial imagery in 80% of locations where people live, work and vacation.

I wonder if they now consider their platform SaaS or S+S.

Managing City Projects on Virtual Earth

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:10:44 GMT

Some time ago I blogged on a Virtual Earth application that was created by Microsoft partner Farallon Geographics for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The web application integrates ESRI back end data and enhances the ability of BRA staff to manage the pipeline of projects by streamlining access to critical data and enhancing the communication, collaboration, and decision making among staff and city departments.

At the time I blogged, I was only able to offer a screenshot and did not have a link to send my readers to.

I do now.

Using the "Find Projects" in the control panel, you can select from different variables to retrieve project data. Or, if you are familiar with Boston, you can search by address.

Never having been to Boston (the shame!), I randomly searched for completed construction (Status) of Education project types in the Mission Hill neighborhood.

The data return was fast and I like the mouse-over windows that provide notes and links for pages of additional information.

Very cool.

Virtual Earth Case Study: Regional Government Alliance Builds Connections with Integrated Mapping

Fri, 16 May 2008 03:13:01 GMT

The eCityGov Alliance is a regional inter-local agency located in the Puget Sound region of Washington State that provides Internet-based services and information to business and local residents. eCityGov develops cross-boundary, multi-functional Web sites where users can find online access to a suite of services including permitting, commercial property information, recreation resources, shared vendor rosters, and more. To make its recreation and parks Web site especially user-friendly, the Alliance wanted to add an interactive mapping and search feature. eCityGov used Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ to build an application where users can search, locate, and visualize regional parks and recreational resources. With Virtual Earth, eCityGov delivered a rich user experience, reduced the time and cost of implementation, and freed limited technology resources to focus on higher-value tasks.

Read full case study here.

Virtual Earth on CSI: New York

Thu, 15 May 2008 21:10:19 GMT

For more than a year I have been blogging on the Virtual Earth platform and sharing the different and clever ways the Public Sector customers are applying it for business intelligence applications. During this time, I have also occasionally shared my thoughts about ways that Virtual Earth (VE3D especially) could be used for law enforcement and intelligence. As the saying goes, you are only limited by your imagination.

Well the writers of the popular television show CSI: New York are not lacking in imagination. Apparently they have included Virtual Earth in some recent episodes but none so much as last night's episode in which our hero's use Virtual Earth to track a killer.

Virtual Earth appears as early as as early as 26:32 but the best footage comes around 36:40 when Virtual Earth is used to locate a firehouse first through satellite imagery on a desktop machine, and then zooming in on the building in Virtual Earth 3D on a big screen (where Virtual Earth belongs!). I love the transition from the 3D model to the actual building because it illustrates the photo-realistic and accurate nature of the Virtual Earth 3D models that I have been preaching about all this time.

You can see the episode here. You can single-click the slider bar under the screen to jump ahead but note that you’ll watch a commercial each time you do.

It is SO worth it! Thanks to Roger Mall of the Virtual Earth team for arranging and sharing this.

Reminder: Microsoft Virtual Earth Partner Webinar and Offer for Free Training

Tue, 13 May 2008 22:38:56 GMT

I only recently blogged on this but want to just quickly remind everyone to register for TOMORROW'S webinar:

Microsoft Virtual Earth partner IDV Solutions is offering free 2 day training for customers interested in building mapping applications using the Virtual Earth platform and IDV's Visual Fusion offering. The offer provides personal training for up to 6 attendees at IDV's office and enables attendees who successfully complete the training to build and maintain an application within just a few hours.

The offer, valued at $12,500, will be fully explained in a webinar that IDV will host May 14, 2008, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ((GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)). The webinar will also provide participants with a better understanding of the applicability of Virtual Earth and Visual Fusion to address public sector customer's needs for enhanced clarity and collaboration around critical business data.

The registration for the webinar can found on IDV's web site here: http://www.idvsolutions.com/federaloffer2008.aspx

Virtual Earth Loyalist: Aerial View

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:55:19 GMT

This aerial view in the Boulder, CO area was brought to my attention. Clearly this property is owned by an extremely intelligent person who recognizes advanced technology when they see it.

I would be even more impressed if it were the Virtual Earth logo!

Virtual Earth Webcast: Adding Mapping Capabilities to your Applications with Virtual Earth

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:48:36 GMT

Frequently we get requests from customers interested in learning more about how to actually code with our Virtual Earth application program interface (API). As simple as we try to make developing solutions with Microsoft Virtual Earth, having someone show you how to do it always makes good sense. One of our peers on the DPE team in Microsoft Public Sector, Marc Schweigert, hosted a webcast a while back during which he walked the audience through developing applications using the Virtual Earth API. Here is the session description and you can also watch the webcast that has been recorded in Microsoft Events:

The Virtual Earth Platform is an integrated set of services that combines unique imagery with best-of-breed mapping, location and search functionality. It enables governments to deliver innovative solutions and breakthrough customer experiences. With the Virtual Earth platform, organizations can create an immersive experience that enables consumers to easily discover, search, and visualize business location data and locally relevant information. Take your websites and applications to the next level by integrating the Virtual Earth Platform to deliver the highly visual and locally relevant information consumers care about most.

Leaving messages on the Virtual Earth for Government blog site

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:19:44 GMT

I am occasionally receiving messages from readers whose communications preferences are not set to allow me to reply. I receive the following error:

If you have left a message and have not heard back, please check your settings to ensure that you are allowing receipt of messages or post your question as a comment here on the blog and I will reply.

Virtual Earth Updates for April 2008

Tue, 06 May 2008 21:34:23 GMT

The Microsoft Virtual Earth product team has added another 22 TB of data to the Virtual Earth platform and published to the Live Search Maps site. Highlights in this release include medium resolution imagery of France, additional UltraCam aerial views in Japan (as well as in North America), Bird’s Eye imagery in Canada and Australia, more GeoEye 1 meter satellite imagery in India, and several areas of the US updated with 0.5m aerial imagery.

Here's the list:

15 cm Aerial Orthophoto Views

Pueblo, CO
Wilmington, DE
St. Joseph, MO
Graceland, TN
Memphis, TN
Mesquite, TX
Burlington, VT
Yokohama, Japan
Kawasaki, Japan
Setagaya, Japan
Halton/Toronto, Ontario
Hamilton, Canada
PhnomPenh, Cambodia
Reykavik, Iceland

.5m Aerial Orthophoto Views

Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM
Augusta, GA
Charlotte, NC
Columbia, SC
El Paso, TX
Florida Southwest Coast, FL
Ocala-Gainesville, FL
Gulfport, MS
Knoxville, TN
Myrtle Beach, SC
Nashville, TN
OklahomaCity, OK
Panama City, FL
Pensacola, FL
San Francisco, CA
St Cloud, MN
Tampa Bay, FL

2.5m Aerial Orthophoto Views

Mainland France, plus Corsica
Guadeloupe
Saint Barthelemy
Martinique
French Guiana (coastline and most borders)
Reunion
Saint Pierre et Miquelon

Bird's Eye Views (North America)

Pickens County, AL
Smith Co, MS
Lancaster Metro, PA
Suburban St. Louis, MO
Tate Co, MS
Areas NW of Birmingham, AL
Olmstead Co, MN
Tunica Co, MS
Tallahatchie Co, MS
Yalobusha Co, MS
Lawrence Co, PA
Hinds Co, MS
Mississippi Metro
Douglas Co, KS
Eau Claire, WI
Black Hawk Co, IA
Minnehaha Co, SD
Pasco Co, FL
Pitt Co, NC
Johnson Co, IA
Charlotte Co, FL
Boulder, CO
Pueblo, CO
Yellowstone Co, MT
Woodbury Co, IA
Pennington Co, SD
Merrimack Co, NH
Fulton Co, GA

Bird's Eye Views (Canada)

Calgary, Alberta
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
Montreal, Quebec
Victoria, BC
Edmonton, Alberta
Vancouver, BC

Bird's Eye Views (Australia)

Gold Coast, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Hobart, Australia
Wollongong, Australia

Bird's Eye Views (Europe)

Aberdeen, UK
Edinburgh, UK
Dunfermline, UK
Cumbernauld, UK
Falkirk, UK
East Kilbride, UK
Dundee, UK
Crawley, UK
Glasgow, UK
Liverpool, UK
Las Palmas, Spain
Telde, Spain
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Den Helder, Netherlands
Ruhrgebiet Region, Germany
Ruhrgebiet Region, Germany
London, UK (reflights)
Ruhrgebiet Region, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Agrinion, Greece
Chalkida, Greece
Chania, Greece
Drama, Greece
Ioannina, Greece
Kalamata, Greece
Iraklion, Greece
Katerini, Greece
Kavala, Greece
Lamia, Greece
Larnia, Greece
Serres, Greece
Trikala, Greece
Patra, Greece
Volos, Greece

GeoEye Satellite Orthophoto Views

Baker_Island, USA
The Alhambra in Grenada, Spain
Ahmadabad, India
Pune, India
Bhopal, India
Timbuktu, Mali
Bhudaneswar, India
Indore, India
Patna, India
Nagpur, India
Bangalore, India
Calcutta, India
New_Delhi, India
Bombay, India
Hyderabad, India
Jaipur, India
Kanpur, India
Madras, India

Microsoft Virtual Earth Partner Webinar and Offer for Free Training

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:46:34 GMT

The registration for the webinar can found on IDV's web site here: http://www.idvsolutions.com/federaloffer2008.aspx

Take a Video Tour of Virtual Earth 3D

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:57:40 GMT

Here's a new Virtual Earth video that highlights what we have been calling the "version 2" enhanced 3D cities. Among other enhancements, these newest cities are denser (more buildings), have better, more detailed photo-realistic texturing, and feature trees.

The video also features some pretty cool Virtual Earth bird's eye imagery (oblique, 45 degree aerial views). Take a look:

Video: Microsoft Virtual Earth - Spring 2008 Release