What is Virtual Earth?
Virtual Earth is a new map and search system released by Microsoft. See virtualearth.com.
Virtual Earth brings together a number of components that allow the user to find out "What is here?" and "Where are the nearest things to here?"
The components consist of maps, aerial imagery, photos, business directories, ratings and reviews.
When will Virtual Earth be released?
It is live now!
Is Virtual Earth Microsoft's answer to Google Maps?
No, it seems not. Our understanding is that this project has been in progress for some considerable time. The Mappoint team has been working on Virtual Earth since the beginning of the year. It would appear that components of the project have been in development for much longer than this.
What will Virtual Earth cost?
Nothing. VirtualEarth is free to consumers - it is another service offered on the MSN public site.
Will Virtual Earth replace MSN Maps and Directions?
It looks like Virtual Earth is the next generation of MSN Maps and Directions. It will prvide a richer experience for the user and contains more features.
How does the Locate Me function work?
From the Virtual Earth help:
If Location Finder is installed and your location can be determined using Wi-Fi network access points, the map is centered on your current location. If your location cannot be determined using Wi-Fi access points but can be found using your computer address, a message indicating that your computer address was used to determine your location is displayed and the map is centered on that location.
This means that the accuracy might not be that great. Using WiFi will probably provide a good accuracy but using your computer address is not going to be very good.
How is Via Virtual Earth related to Virtual Earth and Microsoft?
Via Virtual Earth is an independent site dedicated to helping developers build applications that use Virtual Earth. Those who have contributed to this site are listed on the VVE Team page.
Can I use Virtual Earth in a commercial web site?
Yes - and basically for free! There are a few restrictions that you should read about.
How are the map tiles laid out in Virtual Earth?
The tiles in Virtual Earth are rendered down not across, as in:
| tile(0) |
tile(4) |
| tile(1) |
tile(5) |
| tile(2) |
tile(6) |
| tile(3) |
tile(7) |
How do I stop the image toolbar from appearing when the user hovers over the map in IE6?
This is what we're talking about:
To turn it off, place the following code in your <head> element:
<meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no">
Where does the imagery come from and how old is it?
According to Microsoft:
Imagery on VE consists of both aerial and satellite imagery. The composite view of the country has multiple vintages since it is not practical to collect the entire country in shot. Unfortunately, there is no way to say that "all the imagery is from x." We are working with our aerial providers to create the most complete and current database with the best clarity. Since new releases of the web service are on going, we will be updating imagery on a rolling basis. In some instances we'll have data that was flown in 2005 and in others we'll have the most recent from our providers.
How can I access informaiton about each of the tiles?
There is a tiles property in the map control that returns the collection of tiles. The tile object has lots of properties, including "f" which is the url of the file that is in that tile.
How do I build my own URL?
As per the Virtual Earth help