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MSN VS. Google: Searching Earth
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Bill Gates announced the launch of MSN's Virtual Earth mapping
tool yesterday in a continuing effort to expand its MSN product
line as part of the ongoing battle with Yahoo and Google to capture
the search engine services market.
Gates made the announcement at the Wall Street Journal conference
in Carlsbad, California and had a full visual presentation for the
media to view. Microsoft showed off the wonderful images of places
all over the country as Gates' air corps of high quality digital
photographry planes sent back pictures to help people look over
their city with a literal bird's eye view. Now we know the what
U.S. Air Force did with all their SR71 Blackbirds.
Actually, Microsoft covers 15 major cities with high quality photos
from Pictometry's fleet of small planes taken at a 45-degree angle.
They then overlay the photos onto satellite imagery and allows people
to see clear photos of whatever they happen to be looking for with
highly detailed maps to get them there. Pictometry Inc. is used
primarily by government organizations for the photos so one knows
the quality of the photography will be first rate.
MSN's Virtual Earth promises much innovation in the mapping market,
although Gates suggested during the conference, "There's going
to be a lot of competition in the mapping area."
What Others Are Doing:
MapQuest, a division of AOL, took a crack at the aerial mapping
market a few years ago but after a decent start, usage dropped off
AOL's Brian Hoyt told the Wall Street Journal although Mr. Hoyt
suggested MapQuest may revisit the 3-D imagery idea very soon. MapQuest
was one of the first players in the map market is still popular
today.
Amazon started a new search engine called A9 last at the beginning
of 2005. The Block View, as they call it, brings up matching photos
when one begins looking for things, particularly cities. A9 utlizes
photo trucks equipped with GPS for their imagery with the notion
of having the user feel like they were riding with them in the truck.
When typing in the home office city of Lexington, Kentucky, no Ashley
Judd photos came up though.
Right now, Google offers a free mapping service called Google Maps,
which gives aerial views with search results like the MSN stuff
and while Google has fast image scrolling, MSN offers more detail
by allowing people to look at storefronts and other items with great
resolution. The toughest problem for MSN and others to deal with
is Google's acquisition of Keyhole Inc. last fall. Keyhole uses
aerial photos and satellite imagery for their maps, which are even
more detailed and require a $30 a month service fee and some software
to utilize. Keyhole even fills in some holes with NASA images.
Yahoo offers a decent system but it lacks the quality photography
and the detail of the satellite imagery to work with. One can see
where restaurants and gas stations are located but it's like any
standard map. With the new mapping systems, you REALLY get to see
where they are.
Yahoo's system isn't bad but it doesn't give the detail "You
can really establish that what-is-it-like-there kind of feeling,"
Stephen Lawler, general manager of Microsoft's MapPoint business.said.
"This is a game-changing kind of imagery for the Internet and
for this kind of search experience we're trying to create."
One of the major concerns with all this groovy new mapping technology
and satellite imaging and high fidelity photography is privacy.
With many technological enterprises, privacy protection seems to
be an issue. Now instead of employees committing identity theft
at the local bank, pictures of one walking with children or one's
girlfriend will be out there. It's something for real consideration.
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