Entries tagged with windows live maps - Channel 10

Photosynth Comes To Live Maps

sarahintampa — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:24:00 GMT

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 same way as you explored your own synthed photos.

As you navigate in a map or zoom in or out in a particular location in Live Maps, you can choose to display pushpins for each Photosynth available in that area. You then just click the “launch Photosynth viewer” link to dive in and start exploring those synths.

You can try this now in Seattle, in Cairo at the Sphinx, in Vatican city, or at the Leaning tower of Pisa, for example.

The Sphinx – Cairo, Egypt

Photosynths are not shown by default in Live Maps, but are a part of the user-generated collections feature. Turning them on is easy, though - here’s how:

1) Search for for any location where synths may be available or manually drag your map there. Try “Paris,” for example.

2) Turn on Explore mode (Click Collections –> Explore collections). This turns on all the user-generated content, not just synths.

3) Filter to display just synths: At the top of the Explore panel, press the Photosynth button.

4) Now you’ll see just the synths display.

5) Enjoy!

Note: to explore Photosynths, you must have already installed the Photosynth viewer found here.

New Release of Live Maps

sarahintampa — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:37:00 GMT

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 immediately indexed after uploading so they can be searched instantly. Live Maps will also be using this collections data to further augment business search results when there aren't any business listings that exist for the term you entered. That will definitely be helpful.

I’m also glad to see that they've added the ability to get multi-point directions which is handy when you’re planning a route that has several different stops along the way. However, I'm personally the most excited about the new "landmark hints" feature. I believe that this must have been added in just for me. When I’m going somewhere new, I hate having to look for street signs. Now, thanks to this excellent feature I see "landmarks hints" to help me find my way. Here in the U.S. only, the landmark hints will include things like gas stations, hotels, restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, and car dealerships. So now I'll know to turn RIGHT at the McDonalds, not at some street. Awesome! I'm going to use this new feature today to map my trip to Blogorlando.

The Live Search Maps update also includes several other improvements like better geocoding precision, more aerial updates and bird's eye views (my favorite), updated vector data (roads and places), localized tiles for Western Europe which show place names in the local language, and a lot of other great new features. For the full run-down, check out Chris's blog. In the meantime, I'm off to pack for my trip...and I can finally be happy that this time I won't get lost!

Reuters AlertNet Makes Featured Mashup List

sarahintampa — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:36:00 GMT

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 innovative mashups that feature the use of Windows Live technology. AlertNet was my personal favorite as it incorporates Virtual Earth in a really unique way. On the site, you can visually “mine” for headlines from a particular part of the world on their interactive map just by zooming into a country or region. You can select what kind of crises you want the map to display from conflicts to food shortages to natural disasters and more, or you can choose all the categories to see everything. This is really an ingenious use of the Virtual Earth mapping technology and one that serves such a good purpose, too. Before the Windows Dev article, I was not even aware of the map existence, but I’m glad to have found it as this could prove to be an invaluable resource for learning about what’s happening in different parts of the world.

Send Live Maps Collections to Your MSN Direct-Enabled GPS

sarahintampa — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:22:00 GMT

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 find directions on the internet when they’re planning a trip, but would then have to re-enter those directions into their car’s GPS or make a printout to take with them. But now, using Windows Live Maps, you can find your route and save it as a Collection. Then, from the “Actions” menu, just choose “Send To GPS” to have the map sent to your GPS device in your vehicle.

trueSpace: Realistic, High-Res 3D Modeling for VE and Live Maps

sarahintampa — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:53:00 GMT

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 Maps. After creating these models, they can then be uploaded from trueSpace directly into Live Maps as a collections item. Why is trueSpace important? Well, for one, this is not sketching software – these aren’t drawings, but detailed, rich and realistic models. For example, take this Starbucks model (image to the left - see the full video on Chris Pendleton’s blog). This could either be a 3D model of the actual store or a mockup of one they’re thinking of building. That mockup could then be aaded to Live Maps in order to get feedback from the community. Even better, trueSpace supports importing of models drawn within other 3D software environments, including AutoCAD, Illustrator, and more. (The full list is here). For more details on how to use trueSpace, Chris has a great walkthough on his site. To register and download trueSpace, click here.

Virtual Earth Team Launches "GoVE"

sarahintampa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:13:00 GMT

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 news and has a higher resolution of what's currently being offered online, the organizations can then contact the team by sending an email to collection rendering all of the earthquakes in China. In addition to mapping out where the earthquakes occurred, there's a sidebar which provides more information about each spot listed in the collection. This could be really useful for those tracking what's going on in the various affected regions. Too bad it's only in Chinese, though, I would love to have a translated version of this. (via Virtual Earth, an Evangelist's Blog)

Twitter+Email+Flickr+Virtual Earth = Twisney.com!

sarahintampa — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:35:00 GMT

What do you get when you combine Disney World, Twitter, Flickr, and Microsoft's Virtual Earth? You get the awesome site Twisney.com! The site lets you send in email, IMs, text messages, or tweets in order to update the Virtual Earth map with your photos and news. When you send in your status update to Twisney.com, they match it to a location on the map by looking at the first few words of your message. You can use an abbreviation, a paraphrased name, or the location's full name as found on your map of Disney.

Examples:

btmr, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
thunder mountain, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
thunder mountain rr, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!

If you're emailing in your update from a mobile phone, just attach the picture to the email, and send it to these instructions. That way, all your photos will be available from one page: www.twisney.com/username, which you can then share with your family and friends.

You can keep tabs on other Twisney users from your mobile phone from the mobile version of the site: http://www.twisney.com/mobile/overview

All the photos sent in to Twisney are uploaded to the Twisney group on flickr. You can also see them on a map here.

Get Traffic Warnings with Your Directions with Clearflow

sarahintampa — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:31:00 GMT

There's a useful new technology now available through the Live Maps service - something called "Clearflow" - which helps alert you to bottlenecks, traffic jams, and other obstacles on the road. This new technology was developed over the course of the last 5 years by AI researchers in Microsoft Research, a project led by Eric Horvitz, who came up with the idea back in 2003 when he was stuck in traffic.

To develop the technology, Microsoft researchers collected trip data from employees who volunteered to carry GPS units in their vehicles. The end result was an algorithm for the Seattle area that was based on four years of data, 16,500 discrete trips, over 125,000 miles, and over 819,000 road segments in the Seattle region.

Now Clearflow's algorithm is available to predict traffic patterns for 72 cities in the U.S. When there is a slowdown or traffic problem, drivers will be given alternate routing info to help them get around the problem.

You can test out Clearflow for yourself on maps.live.com

Windows Mobile GPS -paikkatietosovellusten toteutus on kaikkien käsillä.

jukkaw — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:28:00 GMT

Useimmat varmaankin jo tietävät, miten helppoa puhelinsovellusten tekeminen on nykyään, kun käytössä on Windows Mobile puhelimet. Enää ei tarvitse olla monimutkaisia kehitysympäristöjä ja monen vuoden ammattikokemusta sovelluskehitykseen. Pelkkä kiinnostus ja läjä esimerkkejä jo riittää ja heti alkaa valmista syntymään.
Nyt kun yhä useammissa Windows puhelimissa on sisäänrakennetut GPS paikantimet ja puhelimiin tehtävät sovellukset ovat helppoja tehdä Visual Studiolla ja .NET:llä, on aika alkaa toteuttamaan niitä visioita, joita kukin on aiemmin mielessään vain kuvitellut.

Käytännön tarve sai Kari Ruuskasen tarttumaan Visual Studioon ja tutustumaan, miten paikkatietoa hyödyntävän mobiiliohjelman voisi helpoiten tehdä. Ohjelmointi kun ei työkuvaan kuulunut ollenkaan, mutta tarve ja visio sovelluksen toiminnoista oli selkeänä, piti vain ryhtyä tuumasta toimeen.
Tässä esimerkissä mennään läpi Kari Ruuskasen toteutus, jossa hyödynnetään niin tekstiviestejä, GPS paikkatietoa kuin Live karttasivun generointia - puhelimessa!!
Puhelin seuraa missä omistaja kulkee ja laatii siitä mm. Live Maps html-sivun, jota voi katsella selaimella.
Sovellus on säädettävissä myös siten, että kun puhelin siirtyy aiemmin määritetystä alueesta toiseen, lähtee siitä SMS viesti toiseen puhelimeen ja näin ollen tiedetään kokoajan, millä alueella puhelin on.

Lataa projektin koodit itsellesi, tutustu niihin ja hyödynnä niinkuin haluat.

Virtual Birds Eye

sarahintampa — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:32:00 GMT

Virtual Bird's Eye is a new site that provides links to current events, news, and places alongside images from Virtual Earth, a service which features a "Bird's Eye" technology that gives you a unique aerial view of the earth. Each week the site will focus on a specific theme - this week it's MLB, so you can see images and info on stadiums from around the U.S. You can also click on the "Bird's Eye Sight by Category" link to see posts on other interesting attractions and landmarks like dams, presidential homes, or tourist attractions. Thanks to the "eagle-eyed" guys at LiveSide for this find!

New York Subway on Windows Live Maps

sarahintampa — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:00:00 GMT

New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has released an updated version of their Trip Planner web site. This new version now includes embedded Windows Live Maps. With the site, travelers can now enter in where they're going and when they want to get there and receive directions by bus, subway, or by walking. There's also an overlay of the subway map on Live Maps available on the site, which also works in 3D mode, except that then you can't see the stations themselves. Very cool! (thanks to InsideMicrosoft for the find)

Vídeo: Windows Live Maps do Brasil

Galileu — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:15:00 GMT

Nesse vídeo você verá como funciona o novo serviço de mapas e rotas do Windows Live no Brasil. A demonstração é feita por Guga Stocco, Gerente de Live Search da Microsoft Brasil. A ferramenta também estará disponível no portal MSN.

Clicando no player você verá a versão streaming. Para outros formatos, você poderá clicar nos ícones correspondentes ao seu dispositivo ou à qualidade que você deseja. O arquivo será baixado ou executado no seu tocador de mídia padrão.