Windows Live Local / Virtual Earth 3D – Major update

OK, so this perhaps isn’t what we’d normally be talking about on Tracyandmatt, but I’ve used “Live Local” for quite a while, and I think this update is definately worth a mention.

While Live Local has been around a while, and even things like the ‘birds eye’ views are well known now, some features were missing from the 3D applet. Not anymore.

Microsoft have lined up all the bird eye view scenes into the 3D world. It’s not an easy thing to describe, so have a look at the screenshot to see just how good this is:

The white box contains the birds eye image data, but with the update, the 3D engine tints and zooms the standard aerial mapping/road map to line up with the higher quality box out. You still have all the functionality to zoom/tilt/pan, and can view the specific bird eye view from another angle (all automatically adjusting the surrounding areas to line up)

I’m still not explaining it very well, but go take a look at Windows Live Local, and install the Virtual Earth engine by selecting 3D in the top left corner. This also works in Firefox, as well as Internet Explorer.

Posted By: Mark

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Microsoft, Live Local, Virtual Earth, HTC P3450]