The folks at Starbucks just made it a whole lot easier to find their stores. They've added some new ways to find their stores as well as filters to find different types of stores and ammenities at those stores using Virtual Earth version 6 no less than 2 weeks after the release. Okay, they had some inside help....:-) Go to Starbucks.com and click "Our Stores" to see the new functionality powered by both Virtual Earth and MapPoint Web Service. You'll notice 3 tabs across the top - Find Store, Find Route and Find Event. Since Find Store is the default, we'll start there. You can put in a whole host of information in this text box - anything from full addresses to just a postal code. You can also...
We recently launched a new case study (and yes, I'm a little slow getting this out) describing how Coldwell Banker was struggling with the lack of technological innovation around mapping and found Virtual Earth as an answer to their problems. I've plagiarized a bit of the excerpt below to whet your appetite. Coldwell Banker Real Estate Leader Boosts Customer Appeal with Enhanced Online Mapping Technology. In 2005, Coldwell Banker, a leader in using the Internet to sell homes, needed a more innovative approach to online mapping. Its legacy mapping solution could help consumers see a property’s location, but the system was awkward to navigate and provided limited information in regard to surrounding...
So, you want to know what kind of traffic your Virtual Earth application is getting? You want to start licensing Virtual Earth per user? Well, from a technical perspective we've got you covered. Virtual Earth now supports token-based authentication and usage tracking. We've published an article on MSDN explaining how to integrate authentication into your application . You'll need a bit of behind the scenes code. Sorry, we can't have usernames and passwords in JavaScript; well, we could but I doubt you want someone stealing it. The whole authentication system integrates nicely with our current Customer Service Site and MapPoint Web Service reporting infrastructure - for those of you who are using...
I have a few web casts that may be of interest if you want to get more information about Virtual Earth. You should register for the web cast that lines up with your respective role - partner, business decision maker or developer. I'll have just come back from Rwanda (like, the day prior), so at the very least I could be comically disoriented from Malaria. We'll see. Virtual Earth Briefing: What’s New in the latest VE Platform release, pricing, licensing, training resources, and the upcoming VE Data Visualization Specialization exam Partner Readiness - Join this briefing to learn about the latest release of the Virtual Earth Platform, including new features and capability, pricing, licensing,...
Microsoft has rejoined the Open Geospatial Consortium as a Principal Member! And, we're pretty excited about it too. Wayland, MA and San Antonio, TX, October 23, 2007 - Today, at the annual Geoint 2007 Symposium, the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced that Microsoft Corporation has joined the consortium as a Principal Member. Government agencies worldwide are realizing the power of geospatial applications to meet their missions in ways that are unprecedented - from public safety applications to famine and hunger relief. According to David Schell, Chairman and CEO of OGC, "Microsoft's support of OGC's standards process signifies the further maturation of world markets for products...
Rachna posted a great blog entry for his web part using Virtual Earth. I get this request all the time, so I'm glad the MOSS team stepped up. Check out his blog entry here . CP
Trika was nice enough to point out that the beta for the Virtual Earth Certification Exam is now available. I like how I helped author the exam, but I had to find out through her blog that it is available - love it. Anyway, here are some details about the certification that I plagurized from Trika's blog. "New Microsoft Exam! Be the first to certify on Virtual Earth 6.0 !" Feel free to share this with Virtual Earth-aware developers. You can register starting October 15, adn the beta is open until November 14 . If you don't know much about betas, read this or this first. Register for Beta Exam 71-544: TS: Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ 6.0, Developing By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity...
The Virtual Earth version 6 API is now available. The launch included several new exciting features documented in the online SDK .Moving from Version 5 to Version 6 is easy! You simply need to change one character in your .ashx link - change http://dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=5 to http://dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6 . I've received several messages from people who were linking to the .ashx file on local.live.com or have downloaded the .js file from the .ashx file - VERY BAD. If we wanted you to do this we'd put it in the SDK, so change your links; however, by now you've probably realized that your application is broken and are looking for a fix. We...
It's official - MapCruncher is now a supported beta product by the Virtual Earth team! This is big. This means that MapCruncher has graduated out of Microsoft Research as a pet project with really cool implications to a fully supported application by our team. If you've never heard of MapCruncher I've copied/pasted the description below, but in a nutshell - if you want to overlay customize maps atop of Virtual Earth this tool will allow you to do that with a friendly user interface or programmable batch command line prompt. MapCruncher can rasterize parcel maps, community maps, bus routes, hiking trails - whatever you want so you get a robust user interface to navigate your information. Here...
Another huge drop of data for your liking (38.1 TB). Here are the details: Vector North America and Europe Refresh of all North American and European road information Oblique Imagery (Bird's Eye) United States Worcester, MD Orange, CT Select areas of Connecticut Warren, NJ Hunterdon, NJ Cape May, NJ Select areas of New Jersey Jackson, MS Tulsa, OK Reno, NV Marion, OR Fulton, NY Northampton, PA Albany Metro, NY Henrico, VA Yonkers Metro, NY Fresno, CA Harford, MD Larimer, CO Erie, NY United Kingdom Aldershot Newbury Ayre Warwick/Leamington Telford Mansfield Blackburn / Darwen Basingstoke / Basing Burnley / Nelson Cannock / Great Wyrley Craigavon Nuneaton Redditch / Astwood Abergele / Rhyl / Prestatyn...
MSN Mexico (aka Prodigy MSN ) launched an application with Motorola using Virtual Earth as a backdrop for community data. The concept is an exclusive site for Motorola and MSN which focuses on entertainment. The site consists of podcasts, editorial music news, and product information. Of particular interest is the user's ability to generate a mini-web site (or Motospace) which consists of a photo, blog, music and customizable backgrounds. The Motospace must contain user location information within Mexico allowing the site to plot the user on a map based on city & state. Virtual Earth allows for a means to browse other user Motospaces and tour cities and user blogs in those cities. As a part...
