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Maps Blog — May 2010

  • May
    19
    20 10

    New Bing Map Apps: Gas Prices, Distance...

    Let me take you on a little trip. It’s raining in Seattle today (surprise, surprise), so I’ve decided to head to San Diego for the weekend – the weather should be better there. First thing I want to do is figure out how far it is from Seattle to San Diego. I hear the drive is beautiful especially along the Oregon coast, so let’s calculate the driving distance…introducing the Distance Calculator Map App. The Distance Calculator Map App will generate the distance between two places on the map. Enter “Seattle” in the “Add a Place” box in the left-hand navigation. You’ll see it added to the “Your Places” list below the input box. Then, enter “San Diego.” There are multiple places in the world called San Diego, so select “San Diego, CA” from the disambiguation box. With each input a flag is placed on the map and after you select San Diego a distance calculation will kick in and calculate the distance “as the crow flies.” So, next to the airplane icon you’ll see just how many miles it is to fly from Seattle to San Diego (you can also switch to kilometers). Additionally, a... Read More Let me take you on a little trip. It’s raining in Seattle today (surprise, surprise), so I’ve decided to head to San Diego for the weekend – the weather should be better there. First thing I want to do is figure out how far it is from Seattle to San Diego. I hear the drive is beautiful especially along the Oregon coast, so let’s calculate the driving distance…introducing the Distance Calculator Map App. The Distance Calculator Map App will generate the distance between two places on the map. Enter “Seattle” in the “Add a Place” box in the... Read More
    • Comments (12)
  • May
    17
    20 10

    New Bing Maps App: Piracy Watch

    Avast me heartys! Me scurvy dog Bing scalleywags ‘ave another app for ye! Okay, so Talk Like a Pirate Day isn’t until September, but piracy is an international crisis that governments around the world are still dealing with everyday. And, since I’m a Microsoft guy I’m sure you’re thinking I’m talking about software piracy; but, I’m not. I’m talking about the real deal – dirty scoundrels capturing ships from seas around the world to pillage their booty. The Piracy Watch Map App illustrates international seafaring attacks by placing pushpins on the map showing where the attacks have taken place. Users have the ability to click any of the pushpins to get more information about the respective incident – specifically, the date of the incident, the type of ship that was victimized, the aggressor, and a short description of the incident which includes the location of the incident. The left panel provides additional ways to sort the data – by date, victim type or aggressor type. The application was built by our good friends at IDV Solutions who have a slew of additional information about piracy including an interactive... Read More Avast me heartys! Me scurvy dog Bing scalleywags ‘ave another app for ye! Okay, so Talk Like a Pirate Day isn’t until September, but piracy is an international crisis that governments around the world are still dealing with everyday. And, since I’m a Microsoft guy I’m sure you’re thinking I’m talking about software piracy; but, I’m not. I’m talking about the real deal – dirty scoundrels capturing ships from seas around the world to pillage their booty. The Piracy Watch Map App illustrates international seafaring attacks by placing pushpins on... Read More
    • Comments (6)
  • May
    10
    20 10

    New Bing Maps Application: Global Action...

    The newest addition to the Bing Maps library of applications is the Global Action Atlas by National Geographic . The application allows users to peer into areas where our planet needs help. National Geographic and Bing Maps invite you to support efforts across the globe to help people in need, protect plants and animals, preserve diverse cultures, and more. Join thousands of others who are donating, volunteering, and sharing knowledge on behalf of community-based projects working to solve global challenges. The application interface is quite simple – just check on and off boxes for efforts of interest. The actionable themes include Conservation, Humanitarian Affairs, Cultures, Exploration, Climate Change and Energy and are further described as such: Conservation: Includes categories on animals and plants; fresh water; landscapes; migrations and corridors; and oceans and coastal areas. Climate Change: Focuses on projects having to do with forest conservation and management; renewable energy; reforestation; and ocean impacts. Cultures: Features projects focusing on preserving endangered languages; cultural preservation; archeology; and indigenous rights. Energy... Read More The newest addition to the Bing Maps library of applications is the Global Action Atlas by National Geographic . The application allows users to peer into areas where our planet needs help. National Geographic and Bing Maps invite you to support efforts across the globe to help people in need, protect plants and animals, preserve diverse cultures, and more. Join thousands of others who are donating, volunteering, and sharing knowledge on behalf of community-based projects working to solve global challenges. The application interface is quite simple – just check on and off boxes for efforts... Read More
    • Comments (7)
  • May
    07
    20 10

    Bing Maps Imagery Release, April 2010

    Another huge Bing Maps imagery release and this month features our Enhanced Bird’s Eye going worldwide. We now have Enhanced Bird’s eye worldwide with more urban models and the ability to view locations from a re-projected perspective, from all 4 cardinal directions, across the globe. In total, we’re releasing 194,000 square kilometers of new and refreshed imagery. This includes high resolution 20cm aerial for Wellington, New Zealand and 60cm satellite updates for Australia, Mexico, Namibia, Russian Federation and South Africa. Don’t forget, the Bing Maps World Tour is now a Map Application in Bing Maps so you can get all your imagery updates there. CP – Follow me on Twitter @ ChrisPendleton Read More Another huge Bing Maps imagery release and this month features our Enhanced Bird’s Eye going worldwide. We now have Enhanced Bird’s eye worldwide with more urban models and the ability to view locations from a re-projected perspective, from all 4 cardinal directions, across the globe. In total, we’re releasing 194,000 square kilometers of new and refreshed imagery. This includes high resolution 20cm aerial for Wellington, New Zealand and 60cm satellite updates for Australia, Mexico, Namibia, Russian Federation and South Africa. Don’t forget, the Bing Maps World Tour... Read More
    • Comments (13)
  • May
    06
    20 10

    Mashable Adds Trending Topics with Bing...

    Mashable just launched a new function of their web site highlighting Local Twitter Trends on a Bing Map . The application is intended to give devoted Mashable readers the sense of trending topics in selected areas around the world. Using a Bing Map gives immediate context for the respective markets and the top trending topics from Twitter for the respective market. Wondering what people are tweeting about in New York? Click the pin in New York and the popup balloon will showing the top trends for what New Yorkers are Tweeting about. And, hey, this was so interesting, I sat down with Mashable CEO, Pete Cashmore to talk about it on camera . Additionally, you can use search filters to edit the tweets appearing on the map. Just enter a keyword for a current trend and the results on the map will filter based on your location viewport and the respective keyword. So, if you want to know what people are saying about “Bing” in Los Angeles, you add “Bing” to the search filters, center the map over Los Angeles and you’ll see a Bing Map with Bing related Tweets geo-located atop the map. Finally, as part of the application, you can search for relevant articles... Read More Mashable just launched a new function of their web site highlighting Local Twitter Trends on a Bing Map . The application is intended to give devoted Mashable readers the sense of trending topics in selected areas around the world. Using a Bing Map gives immediate context for the respective markets and the top trending topics from Twitter for the respective market. Wondering what people are tweeting about in New York? Click the pin in New York and the popup balloon will showing the top trends for what New Yorkers are Tweeting about. And, hey, this was so interesting, I sat down with Mashable CEO... Read More
    • Comments (2)
  • May
    05
    20 10

    How Bing Maps Creates Streetside

    As we continue to roll out more and more Streetside imagery for Bing Maps , I figured it was time to give my technical peeps out there a little sneak peak into how we create the Streetside user experience for Bing Maps. For those of you who don’t know, Streetside is the term for Bing Maps’ ground level, human scale imagery that is highly coveted for bringing users the full visual experience for a specific location. So, while our satellite imagery and orthographic aerial photography (Aerial map style) provide great context to accompany our vector-based raster maps (Road map style) and our oblique imagery (Bird’s Eye map style) is even higher resolution for increased zoom and cardinal rotation capabilities, Streetside brings you down to ground level (and you can go inside with Photosynth :)). Anyhow, for those of you interested in how we use Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) with photography (Photogrammetric processing) through a Silverlight interface and vector road information for reference points, check out my Channel 9 video with Bing Maps Program Manager Pasquale DeMaio as we talk shop about Bing Maps’ Streetside . CP – Follow me on Twitter ... Read More As we continue to roll out more and more Streetside imagery for Bing Maps , I figured it was time to give my technical peeps out there a little sneak peak into how we create the Streetside user experience for Bing Maps. For those of you who don’t know, Streetside is the term for Bing Maps’ ground level, human scale imagery that is highly coveted for bringing users the full visual experience for a specific location. So, while our satellite imagery and orthographic aerial photography (Aerial map style) provide great context to accompany our vector-based raster maps (Road map style) and... Read More
    • Comments (5)