Geo-mapping service will offer layers of aerial photographs and satellite photos, and arrive later this year.
The chase is on.
With Google at the forefront of search engine technology, its Google Labs producing new uses for the search engine like Google Maps and Ride Finder, Yahoo and Microsoft have struggled to play catch-up.
While recent studies have shown Yahoo making great strides toward matching Google in the search engine market, Microsoft’s MSN service has been tagging along behind the leaders.
On Monday, Microsoft took a step forward, by offering a preview of a new service called MSN Virtual Earth. The service will provide some interesting features later this year.
Its technology will let users view maps of areas as seen from aerial photographs and satellite photos, and pair that with detailed local search results. And the service will let visitors go deeper than rooftop views, by letting them see shops on the street.
Also, users will be able to layer multiple searches of an area atop each other. A search for a restaurant could be placed atop a search for hotels, showing a user the closest eateries to the hotel he may be visiting for a conference on an upcoming trip.
The aerial pictures won’t be immediately available when Virtual Earth launches this summer. Those images will be captured by a fleet of small planes on behalf of Microsoft. That’s right, Bill Gates has his own air force, or is at least renting one equipped with high-quality cameras.
Google has had satellite imagery as part of its search service since earlier this year. The A9 search engine from Amazon.com has a feature with 20 million street-level photographs taken in ten cities.
Microsoft will start with 15 major US cities, and add more in the future. While a list was not provided, Microsoft’s Redmond-based headquarters is near Seattle, so don’t be surprised to see Seattle make the first list.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
