Windows Live goes Local 177
dualcore writes "PC Magazine is reporting that Windows is going live with a 'new online local search and mapping service.' The interface is pretty close to Google Local, but with subtle enhancements, such as right-clicking anywhere on the map brings up a context menu or the way you can click on a point on the map to select it for directions. The final word on which service is better remains to be seen but this competition will certainly benefit the end-users."
Cumbersome (Score:5, Informative)
Initial Reactions (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What I don't understand... (Score:3, Informative)
Bill Gate's crib (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Cor (Score:3, Informative)
But doesn't work under Safari... You know Bill must be pissed when their stuff works on Linux before it does on a Mac. I KEED! I KEED! No really.
Why bird's eye could never have mosaiced images (Score:3, Informative)
There's actually a reason why MS did what they did with the Bird's Eye imagery. Since it was taken at an angle (it's an oblique aerial photo), the edges of the images won't necessarily mosaic with the edges of the other images properly, giving us a weird, multi-perspective view. Some buildings would lean on way, while others would lean the opposite, even if they were neighbors.
Granted, this happens in vertical aerial photos like those Google has and MS has in their aerial photo section. However, this "leaning tower" effect is minimized because of the angle of the photo and special methods used to reduce such distortion (known as orthorectification). As such, orthophotos can be panned and scrolled without too much oddness, whereas oblique aerial photos (MS's Bird's Eye view) will look extremely awkward and thus will probably be stuck in a sort of static viewing mode.
Try the mouse wheel! (Score:3, Informative)