Microsoft Adds Photosynth To Virtual Earth

Microsoft’s innovative Photosynth technology has been integrated into Virtual Earth, marking the first time Photosynth has been available for commercial use.

Photosynth is a tool that lets users upload regular photos and then stitches those photos into 3-D scenes of whatever the photos depict. Our Greg Sterling has previously shown some Photosynth screenshots and called it “pretty amazing stuff.”

Microsoft says that two early customers using Photosynth via its integration with Virtual Earth are NASA and VisitBrighton. Here’s one screenshot of how NASA is using Photosynth to show the International Space Station:

On a more earthly level, in addition to the Brighton Tourism example, you could imagine real estate web sites that already use Virtual Earth for mapping adding the Photosynth technology to show 3-D tours of individual properties. On the Virtual Earth web site, Microsoft also suggests a number of other ways businesses can use Photosynth. You can watch Microsoft’s YouTube video to see all of this in action.

If you’re not a potential business customer, but want to see Photosynth in action, it was integrated into Live Maps late last year. Go virtually to Seattle and look for the Photosynth links in the left content window.