Windows Live Maps

Today we announced a new larger format 92 megapixel camera for aerial photography. You may not have even known that Microsoft makes cameras, but this is how we get the really good quality from the Bird's Eye view on Live Maps. Stemming from an acquisition of Vexcel several years ago, the…

There’s a new feature now available on Live Maps: Photosynth! The Microsoft Live Labs technology, Photosynth, which launched publicly back in August, allows you take your photos and turn them into rich, 3-D experiences. Now, with the new Live Maps integration, you can explore the world in the very…

The Virtual Earth team has just made a big round of updates to their platform, some of which affect the consumer-facing side of VE: Live Search Maps. One of the updates that I think will be immediately useful has to do with communities. Community-submitted collections are now going to be…

Reuters AlertNet is a web-based humanitarian news network launched by Reuters in ‘97 to keep relief professionals, journalists, and the public current on humanitarian crises worldwide. The site was recently selected as a featured mashup by the Windows Live Dev team, who picked out 10 of the most…

At this year's Virtual Earth and Location Summit, hosted by Microsoft Research in May, Steve Stanzel of the 3D Imagery Group gave a presentation about the new Virtual Earth released earlier this year. Virtual Earth version 2, in case you don't know, is a pretty impressive step forward in this…

For users of MSN Direct-Enabled GPS devices, like those made by Garmin and Alpine Electronics Inc., sending directions from your PC to your car is possible with the latest release of the MSN Direct API. This new functionality has now been integrated into Live Maps, too. Many people still use a PC to…

Back in February, Microsoft acquired a company called Caligari mainly for their 3D modeling and animation software, trueSpace. As of now, trueSpace is available for download – for free. With trueSpace, you can create high-resolution models, landscapes, buildings, and more for Virtual Earth and Live…

Brian Keller and Mike Iem are avid hikers and just happen to be Microsoft employees.  They are heading out on a three week hike to South America in a few weeks and stopped by the Channel 10 Studios to show off the latest gadgets they're taking with them.  SteriPEN…

Big news! Chris Pendleton is reporting that Ask.com has decided to forgo their mapping service in favor of the Virtual Earth platform. If you go to maps.ask.com now, you’ll see a Virtual Earth map. Chris notes that this choice is common among portal sites who realize that the upkeep involved in…

The Virtual Earth team has just launched a new program called GoVE which lets state and local governments, municipalities, and aerial photographers share their own imagery with Microsoft and get it published on Virtual Earth. After checking out maps.live.com to verify that the imagery they have it…