Mix06 live (9): Let me show you where I am

Seeing Windows Live Local, I came upon the idea of comparing the interactive mapping services from Microsoft, Amazon and Google. I am at the Venetian in Las Vegas, but how does that look like from space, from an airplane or from the street? These three services are showing it to you.

Tags: Microsoft - Mix06

http://local.live.com

Windows Live Local from Microsoft has a unique "birds eye view", showing aerial pictures of buildings not straight down from the sky, but sideways.









http://maps.a9.com

The A9 search engine from Amazon.com is developing its "block view" feature. Camera-equiped cars have photographed all buildings from the street level. Using the cheap labor from Amazon Mechanical Turk, live people have associated the pictures with house numbers. I think the potential is really big for yellow pages-like advertisments.






https://maps.google.com






http://earth.google.com

Using a client-side application originally developed by Keyhole (which was acquired by Google), Google Earth adds enhanced interactivity to the mapping experience.