Bing Pares Its Mapping Image Operations, Sells Some Assets To Uber
To focus on "core business strategy," Bing will stop gathering its own mapping imagery and instead license data from third parties.
Topic: Aerial photography
SearchCap: Google AdWords Conversion Optimization & Bulk Edits, Bing Maps Imagery Update & Google’s Mobile Revenues Hit $8B
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Maps Adds Hundreds Of Streetside & 3D City Images; Plus New HD Aerial Images Bing announced a large maps update today, where they have added hundreds of Streetside images, 3D […]
Bing Maps Adds Hundreds Of Streetside & 3D City Images; Plus New HD Aerial Images
Bing announced a large maps update today, where they have added hundreds of Streetside images, 3D city images and new high resolution aerial images. Bing Maps now has over a 100 cities that support Streetside imagery available across America. The images are available in these cities: Alameda County, CA Fresno, CA Richmond, VA, Anaheim, CA […]
Bing Maps Adds New Bird’s Eye Imagery, Venue Maps & A Report A Problem Feature
Bing Maps announced a number of new additions today, including a more expansive collection of Bird’s Eye Imagery locations, new Venue Maps and a Report a Problem feature. According to Bing, the search engine has published 1,452,948 sq km of Bird’s Eye images from around the world with the largest collection posted today, offering users […]
Bing Completes “Global Ortho” High Resolution Imagery Project For Continental US
Back when Bing Maps was called Microsoft Virtual Earth (2006) the company bought Vexcel, a US Defense Department contractor that specialized in high resolution aerial photography and automated 3D image rendering. That acquisition became the basis of Bing Maps’ subsequent ambitious aerial imagery and 3D mapping efforts. Microsoft then improved upon the camera that Vexcel […]
Bing Maps Introduces 38 Million Sq Kilometers Of New Satellite Imagery
As the “mapping wars” heat up Microsoft is introducing a huge new body of satellite imagery into Bing Maps. It’s not clear whether any of this will extend to mobile given the apparent substitution of Nokia Maps for Bing in Windows Phone 8. The new imagery covers vast amounts of land on almost every continent. […]
Google Maps Vs. Bing Maps: Summer Vacation Planning Showdown
Wouldn’t it be great if there was one mapping service that offers everything you need to plan a trip to somewhere you’ve never been? Sure, map sites are generally pretty similar. You can see maps, find business listings, get driving directions, see images and stuff like that. But it’s actually more complicated than that. At […]
Bing Maps’ “Game Changer”: Hi-Res Aerial Imagery Coming To Entire US and Western Europe
Hot on the heels of last week’s Read/Write World effort, Bing Maps has announced another ambitious project that will improve its imagery collection. It’s called the Global Ortho Project and the goal is to provide consistent, high resolution (30 cms) imagery across every square inch of the United States and Western Europe by June, 2012. […]
Bing Embraces OpenStreetMap, Hires Founder
Microsoft announced that it has hired CloudeMade and OpenStreetMap (OSM) founder Steve Coast as “Principal Architect for Bing Mobile,” as well as a kind of liason to the “open map community.” According to data in the Bing post announcing Coast’s hiring, there are “more than 320,000 people” who have participated or are participating in the […]
Google Earth: This Is (1945) London
Google has added new historical imagery for London on Google Earth. It allows users to see images of how the city looked during recent history, in this case 1945 and various points forward to the present. Below are three “yesterday” and “today” images from the new London archive: You can access this archival photography by […]
Google Maps & Earth Add New Imagery … From A Kite
Despite the march of progress and technology, sometimes humans just do it better. That’s the lesson to be learned from Frank Taylor, who’s in the middle of a five-year sailing trip around the world, and whose photos from the journey are being picked up by Google and added into both Google Maps and Google Earth. […]
Bing Maps Rolls Out Its Largest Image Update
Bing Maps has rolled out what Microsoft is calling its “largest amount of new imagery ever in terms of square kilometers.” Apparently that represents 6.7 million square kilometers. There’s new aerial and Bird’s Eye imagery across many countries on several continents. The full list is below. The Bing Maps World Tour shows the updates on […]
Google Earth Adds World War II Imagery
The Google LatLong Blog announced the addition of World War II imagery to Google Earth. Now you can compare, side by side, the earth as it is today versus how it was during World War II. Google said: Images taken in 1943 show the effect of wartime bombing on more than 35 European towns and […]
Microsoft Releases Large Volume Of New Images For Maps
Virtual Earth, which has been somewhat in the shadow of Google Maps and Earth released a large volume of new images for Live Search Maps for a range of countries and cities around the globe. The imagery allows you to get in very close, so you can see how far your hotel is exactly from […]
Virtual Earth’s First 2009 Imagery Update
The Virtual Earth Blog announced their first 2009 imagery update, including about 100TB of new images. The major updates include the new Digital Globe satellite imagery they recently licensed and “bird’s eye” photos of Paris, France. There are literally tons of updates to the imagery, from satellite to bird’s eye to orthos. For the full […]
Microsoft Adds Virtual Earth Images To Live Search
Microsoft has added Virtual Earth “Birds Eye” panoramas to Live Search image search results. They appear to be live in the US only right now and around selected points of interest (images below) but they’re very striking. You can pan and zoom and switch from a Birds Eye view to aerial or map views and […]
Microsoft Virtual Earth Adds New Imagery
The Virtual Earth Blog announced that they have released a bulk of new imagery to Virtual Earth and Live Maps. I am not going to list out all the new locations where you can find the new satellite, ortho, and bird’s eye imagery, but here are a few:
Google Updates Earth Imagery & Begins To Blur Faces
Google has announced a new earth imagery update has been pushed out to their mapping product. With that update, Google has updated their Manhattan images, which includes higher quality images, better naming of specific buildings and areas, plus Google has begun blurring the faces of people in their street view images. The “new face-blurring technology” […]
Yahoo Adds Much More Imagery To Maps
Yahoo has largely opted out of the mapping arms race between Microsoft and Google that has seen both invest millions in their mapping platforms. While it was the early pioneer of dynamic mapping and use of maps as a local search tool, the company decided to focus on more “practical” tools and functionality rather than […]
20 Awesome Images Found In Google Maps
The introduction of satellite images into map search interfaces has excited both virtual sightseers and local app developers. Further innovations like Google’s Street View have caused consternation from privacy advocates while further pumping up the buzz about online mapping. In 2008, we can expect further innovations that stretch the envelope while dynamic map interfaces solidify […]
Google Maps Causes US Navy To Change Its Swastika Building
You have to feel a bit sorry for the US Navy. They have a building in California that looks like a swastika from the air. But who looks at buildings from the air? Until Google Maps popularized easy access to aerial views, only the occasional bored air traveler. But thanks to Google Maps, the swastika […]
Virtual Earth Adds More ‘Bird’s Eye,’ Satellite And 3-D Imagery
Gary Price points to a Microsoft Virtual Earth blog posting that reflects enhancements of low level orthogonal “Bird’s Eye” photography within the U.S., as well as satellite mapping for a range of countries and locations outside the U.S. In addition there’s also now more 3-D imagery and more 3-D cities in Virtual Earth.
Microsoft vs. Google: Street Photography Rigs Compared
Gizmodo, in something of a tongue-in-cheek post, compares the cars and cameras Google is using to capture its StreetView imagery with those being used by Microsoft for what has been known as StreetSide. StreetSide is a Live Local product that predated Google’s StreetView but has been limited to San Francisco and Seattle. What this post […]
Google Responds To Katrina Controversy With Fresh New Orleans Images
The Google Blog has responded to the concerns about showing pre-Katrina images for New Orleans. In short, Google said they changed the imagery back in September 2006 to provide higher resolution images of the city, even though views were from before Hurricane Katrina caused widespread damage. Now those pre-Katrina images have been replaced with high […]
Aussies Turn Out For Battle Of Sydney; Google Gets Shot Down
Australia Day was last week. For the occasion, both Google and Microsoft both planned to do flyovers to snap imagery of the Sydney landscape and actual Sydney residents (Sydneysiders) for the event – ultimately to be used in Google Earth, Google Maps and Microsoft Live Local (Virtual Earth). However, Google’s flyover didn’t work as planned.
Virtual Earth Enhances Aerial, Satellite Imagery
Still somewhat ahead of consumer demand, Microsoft continues to build on its commitment to rich satellite and aerial imagery (in addition to 3-D) through its Virtual Earth platform (and Live Local destination). Earlier today Microsoft announced that it will integrate more than 400,000 square miles of U.S. aerial imagery into Virtual Earth, under an agreement […]