MSN Virtual Earth: What Apple Headquarters?

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...)

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.

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.

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.

Looking at my own neighborhood I can tell you that the Google Maps images are a few years out-of-date. MSN is more out-of-date in my area though.

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?

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.