Microsoft's Virtual Earth now includes fully texture mapped 3D buildings for Brighton and slightly bizarrely, for a first inroad to the UK, Swindon.
Of interest for those in the know will be the inclusion of the GetMapping copyright on the data.
Next stop London? This will happen without doubt, we try to like Virtual Earth - really we do - but there is something about it that's just not quite right. Google Earth and their 3D warehouse makes us smile, its community led with freely released modelling tools. Microsoft's approach makes us more worried than anything.
You can take a look at Brighton, Swindon and the also newly released cities of Calgary, Redmond, Buffalo, Beaverton and Portland via maps.live.com
Now Swindon is famous for something other than its Magic Roundabout and being the setting for The Office (original UK version).
ReplyDeleteOops, David Brent was in the Slough branch, not Swindon.
ReplyDeleteMust.watch.more.TV.
lol :)
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to MS google started exactly the same with 3d cities added by google and no way for the community to add them.
ReplyDeleteFrom speaking to the VE team they have said they aim to follow Googles path and allow 3rd party developers to add there own models with a mention of a community tool.
I for one will be glad when we can do this as VE has the best coverage in the uk, far better than Google.
Brian Norman
www.earthware.co.uk
Brian,
ReplyDeleteYou are right - the coverage is impressive and any community tools would be welcome.
It'll be interesting to see what 3D format they choose to import data..