Blogs

LoopNet, the #1 commercial real estate service online, recently launched a new map search service built on Virtual Earth.  The LoopNet solution utilizes Virtual Earth to provide an autorefreshing query for commercial real estate based on the VE Map Control.  That lets their customers use the map as an additional filter in their search, finding only properties in the exact areas they care about.  The unique bird’s eye...
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Often I find developers asking questions about what kinds of applications have been built on Virtual Earth, other than the generally mashup oriented stuff on www.ViaVirtualEarth.com.  Basically, what commercial reference implementations exist.  So, I am going to start posting some to this blog to give you an idea of what is out there and inspiration for what can be built.  I have a backlog of them, so stay...
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The folks over at Via Virtual Earth have started up a forum thread on the free-to-use, ad supported “commercial control”, trying to get feedback on what you think microsoft should do different or the same as we prepare for future versions.  If you have an opinion we would love to hear from you, so please chime in. 
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As you may have noticed already, as I have gotten a few comments, URLs that used to lead to MapPoint Web Service information on www.microsoft.com now redirect to a site branded as Virtual Earth.   What’s up?  Did we change the name of the MapPoint Web Service?  Is this a new version?  It is much more simple than that actually: We are combining our two primary services components, Virtual Earth Map Control...
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Dare Obasanjo recently posted a good article to XML.com highlighting how he built a Virtual Earth mashup for finding movies in Seattle.  It is worth a read if you are brushing up on how to bind your data to the Map Control. 
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This afternoon, Windows Live Expo was released as a public beta. It is a great classifieds site with some unique features such as scoping the posts you see to a particular area or to a group close to you like your Messenger buddy list.  Check it out: http://expo.live.com/ So, why is this on the Virtual Earth developer blog?  Well, Expo allows it’s users to map out the results of their search on a Virtual Earth map control. ...
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Today, the Virtual Earth team released a new Technology Preview of street-side imagery.  Take a look: http://preview.local.live.com/ This release is not a final product, and is being released early in the development process so we can engage with the community and gather feedback on the feature concept and our implementation.  We plan to integrate a more complete version of the functionality into the Windows Live Local...
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A common question we get is, “What is the resolution or scale at a particular zoom level in Virtual Earth or Windows Live Local?”  Well, that is actually a little more complex of answer than you might expect.  We use Mercator projection across the maps in the Virtual Earth Map Control so they can be be cut up into image tiles for quick delivery to clients and reliable stitching back together of the images.  But...
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When instantiating the Map Control, you have the option to specify a starting coordinate set and zoom level for road or aerial view. But, you might be scratching your head on exactly what zoom level to start at if you want to get a particular level of detail.  I find the quickest way to find a good zoom level is to fire up Windows Live Local and get the view to exactly where you would like to start your map.  Then, you can generate a...
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As many of you have pointed out to me, the v2 control does not support firefox as well as the Windows Live Local site does.  There is actually a wedge you can put in place to fix most of these issues, but it is not officially part of the SDK today. To use the wedge, add the following line to your html as the first line in the body element: <![if !IE]><script src=”http://local.live.com/JS/AtlasCompat.js”...
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