Live Search with Virtual Earth 3D (Beta)

Those who love Google Earth will definitely want to take Virtual Earth 3D (VE 3D) out for a spin. If you're among the thousands who've already bought and flown Microsoft Flight Simulator X, I'm probably preaching to the choir; VE technology is at the heart of that game. Keep in mind here that I'm not dethroning Google Earth; we're not taking away its Editors' Choice in favor of VE. What I'm doing, despite the best efforts of the folks at Microsoft to confuse everyone with name changes, is simply allowing the Editors' Choice for local search that I awarded to Windows Live Local (beta) back in February to be inherited by its offspring, the less descriptively named Live Search. The addition of Virtual Earth 3D technology has only enriched the process of local search.

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Let me add that, in the future, when the folks at Google can find some way of overcoming the technical challenges of melding the richness of Google Earth and its amazing community with its own local search, they'll have a shot at the title. What would top even that would be for Google to acquire Yahoo! Local and the technology Yahoo! in turn absorbed and integrated from its acquisition of upcoming.org. Now that would be an unbeatable combination for things local

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Install required

While you’ll still find the improved Live Search site very useful without 3D features, to get the 3D you’ve got to get the download.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Just a small .MSI

The 3D application download is just a little over five megabytes and is quick over a broadband connection.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Outlook plug-in available too

There’s also a Microsoft Outlook add-in available that will work in conjunction with Live Search and its VE 3D features.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Can your system handle it?

While post-download might seem a bit late for the app to run an automated algorithm informing you that the flat look is all your machine will handle, that’s nonetheless how things work.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Mouse CTRL

Using your keyboard in conjunction with the mouse allows you to quickly and easily tilt, pan, and rotate your view.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Clicking on the 3D ad

Putting the cursor on and clicking this hovering ad opens up a Nissan Web page.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : New York remains flat

Some of the largest and most complex cities (currently New York City and Chicago for example) still lack 3D data, but that will change.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : 15 Cities and counting

At launch you can visit in mostly-3D any of the 15 cities listed here.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Flat Ships

Consider Virtual Earth 3D a work in progress. If you’ve been to the Philadelphia waterfront you’ve seen the USS Olympia, the singular remaining example of the pre-Dreadnaught American steel Navy, now a floating museum. Data to inflate it and other nearby structures haven’t been loaded just yet. I suspect it will be a while before you’ll find all your favorite museums and other non-profit manmade structures rendered in the VE world. As was (and continues to be the case) with the original local.live site and its bird’s eye imagery, 3D city and location data will continue to be added to the virtual world making the flat 2D world three dimensional.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : The Shape of Ads to come?

I’m not sure I was meant to find this. I saw its glint off on the horizon outside Philly and just had to go and check it out. It meshes with the description of the way advertisements would probably look when they began coming to Virtual Earth 3D. While we lack 3D data below this sign, imagine it hovering above a 3D building, in this case a Nissan dealership.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Flat Adirondacks

While a lot of urbanites will have to wait for their own cities to pop up in 3D, outdoors people will be in heaven. 3D topographic imagery has been loaded on the system for much of the world. Now mapping junkies can while away the hours comparing Virtual Earth with Google Earth as well as their favorite standalone software such as that available to consumers such as Delorme, MapTech, and National Geographic.

Microsoft Live Search wVE3D : Adirondack High Peaks in 3D

Now here are the beautiful High Peaks rendered in 3D.

About Our Expert

Davis D. Janowski

davis_janowski@ziffdavis.com

Davis D. Janowski is Lead Analyst for Web Applications and Software, charged with covering the likes of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and millions of other Internet and Web companies. Prior to this, he served as Section Editor for Consumer Networking, GPS Products, Phones & PDAs (Mobile and VoIP); Associate Editor for Networking Infrastructure; and Associate Editor for Internet Infrastructure. Before joining PC Magazine, Janowski worked as a medical editor, covering epidemiology and infectious diseases, receiving training at the Centers for Disease Control. At one point, he acted as guide for a CDC team, collecting ticks for a study on the origins of human ehrlichiosis in the Florida bush. Before that he made a very modest living as a freelance writer and photographer, covering scuba diving and nautical archaeology.

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