Windows Live Maps

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Windows Live Search
Maps
The Windows Live Local logo.
Virtual Earth 3D within Windows Live Maps

Virtual Earth 3D within Windows Live Maps
Developer: Microsoft
Latest release: 1.3.1204222815.33 / December 19, 2006
Use: Web Map Server
Website: http://maps.live.com
http://local.live.com
MSN Virtual Earth in Internet Explorer 6
MSN Virtual Earth in Internet Explorer 6
Windows Live Maps in Internet Explorer 7
Windows Live Maps in Internet Explorer 7

Windows Live Maps, or Windows Live Search Maps, previously Windows Live Local, is a free web map server provided as a part of Microsoft's Windows Live online applications services suite. It is accessible as a web application.

Contents

[edit] Features

[edit] Street Maps

Detailed street maps available for nearly all of the cities in the world. Metro stations, stadiums, hospitals and other facilities also appear on the map. Users can also see the direction of roads and streets. Search is available, so that users can search for any location/street, a business or category, or even search for people.

For some countries, like Taiwan, South Africa, and South Korea, Windows Live Maps has data on highways and some arterial roads, but lacks local streets or alleys. There is also detailed map data available for several global cities in developing countries like Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, and Mexico City. However, for such cities, the detail of the map decreases significantly as one moves outward from the city center.

[edit] Satellite Images

Satellite images are available too, users can zoom in till they see cars and, in some cities, can see people walking in the street (appearing as tiny black dots). Some of the images are very high-quality, others are not, depending on the city.

For images where users can both view satellite images with map details, users can enable the "Hybrid" option.

List of countries that have satellite images:

[edit] Bird's-eye Maps

One of the unique and distinguished features in Windows Live Maps is the bird's-eye maps, where users can see any place (currently available in all major cities as well as their suburbs) as if they were flying on a plane (better experience than satellite images especially when exploring a city). Images are very high-quality and you can see signs on tops of buildings, advertisements and other things very clearly. Christmas decorations could be seen in a December 2003 bird's-eye photo. Also, signs on or near buildings can sometimes be read depending on resolution and size (i.e. McDonald's sign, Mobil Gas sign, even store logos such as Wal-Mart signs).

[edit] 3D Maps

Instead of viewing flat satellite maps, users can enable the "3D Maps" feature and see buildings in 3D, fly around, rotate and tilt. To add realistic effect, all of the 3D buildings are textured using images taken from different angles of every single building.

To view the 3D maps, users have first to install a plug-in, then enable the "3D" option on "Virtual Earth". Rotating and tilting options can be used only in the 3D maps. At the CES 2007 keynote speech by Microsoft, it was announced that it is possible to navigate the 3D environment using an Xbox 360 or other game controller in Windows Vista or Windows XP.

List of cities that can be fully viewed in 3D:

United States

As for cities that cannot be fully viewed in 3D, users can still view only some buildings there in 3D, those buildings are usually sights and attractions within the city.

[edit] Other Features

  • Driving directions.
  • Tracking of traffic (in several major cities).
  • User points of interest that can be stored and shared.
  • A location finder that can locate the user's location.
  • Integrated route calculation.

[edit] History and Updates

Windows Live Maps is based on existing Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft MapPoint Virtual Earth and TerraServer. Upon its release in December 2005, Windows Live Local became the public face of the Virtual Earth platform. On November 6, 2006, Microsoft added the ability to view the maps in 3D using a .NET managed control and managed interfaces to Direct3D. Microsoft has recently referred to this product officially as Windows Live Maps or Windows Live Search Maps, integrating it as part of its Windows Live Search services.

  • v1 (Beagle) (July 2005)
  • v2 (Calypso) (December 2005) - Bird's-eye imagery released.
  • v2.5 (February 2006)
  • v3 (Discovery) (May 2006) - Real time traffic, collections, new API.
  • v4 (Endeavour) (September 2006) - People search, drawing on maps, new imagery.
  • v5 (Spaceland) (November 2006) - 3D viewer, building models in 15 cities.
  • Data update (December 2006) - New 3D models and high-resolution imagery for 6 new areas.

[edit] Compatibility

Windows Live Maps has been tested on:

for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh

And unofficially tested on:

The website does not support:

Users of browsers that are not considered compatible, as well as users of versions of compatible browsers that are not supported, will be directed away from viewing the map without an error message, making it appear that links to maps are broken.

Because the service appears to decide whether or not a browser is supported based solely on the user agent it sends to the server, this issue can be detected (and potentially worked around) by user agent spoofing, falsely informing Microsoft's servers that the user is using a supported browser.

3D viewing is supported on Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and can also be used in Firefox with the IE Tab extension.

3D viewer plug-in requires Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista, with Internet Explorer version 6 or 7.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. Please remove this tag when this is done. (talk)

[edit] Windows Live Maps

[edit] Blogs

[edit] Articles and News

[edit] Other

Windows Live
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Web Applications: Academic • Account • Agents • Alerts • Barcode • Books • Calendar • Call • Clipboard • Contacts • Custom Domains • Dev • Drive • Essentials • Expo • Favorites • FolderShare • Gallery • Healthcare • Help Community • Hotmail • ID • Ideas • Live.com • Maps • OneCare Safety Scanner • Product Upload • Products • Publisher • QnA • Search • Shopping • Spaces • Video
Software Applications: Mail Desktop • Messenger • OneCare • OneCare Family Safety • Search Center • Toolbar • TV • WiFi Center • Writer
Mobile Services: Live.com Mobile • Mail Mobile • Messenger Mobile • Search Mobile • Spaces Mobile
Microsoft Live Labs: Deepfish • Photosynth • Relay Service • Security Token Service
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