Microsoft’s Virtual Earth technology continues to take strides forward – not just in the inevitable mash-ups, but in new ways of accessing the maps (as well as from http://local.live.com … which I keep on trying to access as live.local.com… d’oh). There are 3D maps in beta, as well as a cool add-in for Outlook 2000/3 (though yet to be updated for Outlook 2007).
I installed a newer version of Virtual Earth Mobile on my Pocket PC the other day… on searching for a business called Microsoft in Reading, here’s what I was offered as an initial map…
Switching to road + aerial, zooming in a bit and sliding the keyboard out to rotate the screen gives us…
… and it can still zoom in two more levels, so you can make out specific details like the parasols outside the restaurant!
I actually used this to get to a customer today – arrived at Waterloo station and realised that I didn’t know which immediate streets I needed to follow to get to the address I’d been given. I just searched for the street name, showed aerial view, walked past the London Eye and found it with no hassle … be careful though: prolonged use could lead to very large data bills 🙂
Have a look yourself from the Windows Mobile Blog.
