Filed under: Odds and ends, Internet Tools
MSN Virtual Earth: What Apple Headquarters?
Jim tipped us off to this yesterday and we're getting a bunch of emails about it today since it was posted on The Register, so we figured we better mention it soon before our inboxes are flooded.
Have a look at 1 Infinite Loop from above. Here we have MSN Virtual Earth on the left and Google Maps on the right.
I thought maybe Apple fans were just getting a taste of our own medicine, but instead it appears that Microsoft is just behind the times as usual. In Microsoft's world, for example, the World Trade Center is still standing. Tom Negrino suspects these pics are at least 7 years old. I have a hunch they may be even older.
The app itself has promise though, and it seems smoother than Google Maps in Safari, so I hope they update the imagery soon.
Have a look at 1 Infinite Loop from above. Here we have MSN Virtual Earth on the left and Google Maps on the right.
I thought maybe Apple fans were just getting a taste of our own medicine, but instead it appears that Microsoft is just behind the times as usual. In Microsoft's world, for example, the World Trade Center is still standing. Tom Negrino suspects these pics are at least 7 years old. I have a hunch they may be even older.
The app itself has promise though, and it seems smoother than Google Maps in Safari, so I hope they update the imagery soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
james said 3:58PM on 7-25-2005
no way! Google's is much better! Microzoft's implementation is slow, not as smooth, the image quality is awful, and when I tried typing in an address, it crashed Safari plus it gave me a dialouge about how I needed ActiveX for some features (such as Locate Me), which really just means use IE. It simply doesn't compare to Google Maps.
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John said 4:29PM on 7-25-2005
MSN is not all old though - for example, it does show all four buildings on the Wind River campus in Alameda; IIRC, the first two were completed at the end of 2000, the next two a couple of years after that.
It doesn't show any of the new houses in the Bayport complex (just what looks like work starting on the models), but it does have the KB Homes complex on Buena Vista. So I would guess the photos of Alameda at least were from sometime in 2003.
Google also has the Wind River campus buildings, but no evidence on work on Bayport, and the KB Homes complex is only half finished. That would probably put them in 2002, or perhaps very early 2003.
Is this a new game for the internet? Guess the date of the photos in Google maps and MSN virtualearth?
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Twist said 5:12PM on 7-25-2005
Looking at my own neighborhood I can tell you that the Google Maps images are a few years out-of-date. MSN is more out-of-date in my area though.
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mapostate said 7:59AM on 7-26-2005
To me it looks like the only problem here is old image data. I expect that new data will just roll in when it's available. Why hasn't anyone noticed that MSN search put Apple in the correct location? Hardly the act of someone trying to 'erase' Apple. Everyone breathe and take your medication.
More interesting is that MSN looks like it's thinking outside the Google box with more than one search working on the map area at a time. It helps that once I find stuff I can put it on a 'scratchpad' that hangs around and share it.
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Patrick said 11:14PM on 7-25-2005
The image on Virtual Earth was taken 10/30/1991. The images were taken directly off of http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&Lon=-122.03117866&Lat=37.33182300&Alon=-122.03117866&Alat=37.33182300&w=1&opt=0&addr=1+Infinite+Loop%2c+Cupertino%2c+CA+95014&qs=1+infinite+loop%7ccupertino%7ccalifonria%7c
so for people going to this website for years, Virtual Earth is nothing new. I am not impressed.
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Patrick said 11:15PM on 7-25-2005
The image on Virtual Earth was taken 10/30/1991. The images were taken directly off of http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&Lon=-122.03117866&Lat=37.33182300&Alon=-122.03117866&Alat=37.33182300&w=1&opt=0&addr=1+Infinite+Loop%2c+Cupertino%2c+CA+95014&qs=1+infinite+loop%7ccupertino%7ccalifonria%7c
so for people going to this website for years, Virtual Earth is nothing new. I am not impressed.
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Xenedar said 3:48AM on 7-27-2005
Don't know where that "still standing" link is pointing to, but Virtual Earth's WTC satellite images are here:
http://virtualearth.msn.com/?sp=yp.111677911
(and then use the zoom control on the left to zoom out; for some reason it defaults to a zoom level for which they don't have images...)
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