Microsoft MSN Unveils Virtual Earth - Sources of the Technology
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Microsoft is tapping more than one source of technology to pull this off. The aerial imagery comes from partner Pictometry International. Pictometry’s technology differs from Keyhole’s, the satellite firm Google purchased. It is still digital imaging, but it grabs as many as a dozen views of an area’s particular features.
According to Dante Pennacchia, chief marketing officer for Pictometry, “The difference between us and Keyhole is dramatic, because while they take an image and bend it, we provide a `see everything’ view that includes signs and other physical information such as windows and doors, at a location that isn’t available in their images.” In addition to Microsoft, Pictometry boasts such respected customers as the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Army, and public safety groups dealing with 911 communications. The company states that it has documents about 25 percent of the U.S.population area.
Microsoft’s other source of data is TerraServer. This is an online database operated by the software giant, which offers free access to U.S.maps and aerial photographs. The company has owned this database for about a decade. I was not that impressed by it recently when I compared it to Google’s satellite imagery offering.
Still, Microsoft is giving itself at least a little time to get this right. While the local search index for business directory listings should be up and running by the time you read this article, MSN Virtual Earth will take longer. Microsoft officials told PC World that they anticipated it would become available sometime between June 21 and September 22.
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