Windows Live Street View?

Oh, Microsoft.  Implementing a Street View feature for Windows Live Maps, are we?  One of my friends snapped this picture on Elkhorn Ave in Norfolk, Virginia.

This picture isn’t great, but it shows the evidence.  …For a better view of the area, why not try the Google Street View of the place?

Making fun of Microsoft is always fun, but let’s not forget that Live Maps has some great features like their “Bird’s Eye View” and in-browser (IE or Firefox) 3D rendering (with Xbox 360  controller support, of course).  To be fair, I remember seeing a Live demo for a Street-View-esque navigator a while ago, even before Google Street View went public.  I guess imagery captured by the Live Local vans will be used for a more polished and integrated version of that.  I’m interested to see how it works out.

Edit at 11:31pm:

PaoloM, on the Channel9 forums, referred me to the “Street-View-like” demo that I thought of.  He sent me a link to this blog post, which was created in early 2006.  The preview is currently still available at http://preview.local.live.com/

General
Google, Google Maps, Google Street View, Live Maps, Mapping, Microsoft, Windows Live Local
26 February 2009 comments [4] TrackBack-URI

1. StreetViewUser posted on March 6, 2009:

   And sadly the preview never went anywhere. If Microsoft isn’t going to do street view I wonder why they even bothered to make the demo? All it did was hype people out.

   Micro is silly for not doing their own as I bet their images will be crisper then Googles despite the fact it will take longer to update IMHO.

2. Steve posted on March 30, 2009:

   Awwww, Microsoft…stealing other’s ideas and failing to innovate AGAIN? Have MS ever come up with anything truly original?

3. David McGrath posted on March 30, 2009:

   Well, Steve, if you read the whole post you would see that Microsoft has been toying with the idea for quite some time. Also, we don’t know how Microsoft will implement the feature. It would be very cool if they used PhotoSynth technology for the task. It would be even cooler if they integrated that with their 3D stuff, all of which would be new. We just don’t know at this point.

   Also, “innovation” is a bullshit word today. It really has no meaning.

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