Member Avatar for tonydan

or Google Earth ?
Im UK based!
I see Google Earth is a download and MSN is online, do google earth have an online version?
Based on my location, which would you suggest, which brings best results and most accurate search results?
The last time I even heard of these they were still in developement stages so never really tried them. Now I think it will beneficial.
Thanks
Tony

  • 5 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 295 Views
  • 3 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by bluscarab

Dani AI

Generated

This thread is old (2006–2009) so the landscape changed a lot since the first posts. Microsoft’s “Virtual Earth” evolved into the product family branded as Bing Maps (and more recently many enterprise capabilities have been moved toward Azure Maps), while Google Earth still exists but now ships as both a web experience and a desktop “Pro” client. For the original question about UK coverage: neither vendor is uniformly “best” everywhere — imagery resolution and freshness vary tile-by-tile, so the only reliable way to pick is to compare the specific places you care about. (en.wikipedia.org)

A few corrections and context to the replies above: is right that Microsoft was working with large imagery projects long before 2005 (TerraServer-era research), and ’s web-vs-desktop distinction described the situation back then. was also right that satellite/aerial tiles exist on both platforms — but the availability, recency and street-level coverage (Street View vs Streetside) differ by country and even by neighbourhood. The historical picture matters because those early projects led to today’s mixed set of web, desktop and developer APIs. (jimgray.azurewebsites.net)

Quick, practical test (do this for a few sample UK postcodes you care about):

  1. Open Google Earth (web) and Bing Maps in a browser; search the same address and compare “satellite/aerial” + street layers.
  2. If you need historical imagery or offline 3D, run Google Earth Pro and use the Time/“historical imagery” tools to see capture dates.
  3. If you need capture dates programmatically, Bing’s imagery metadata REST API returns capture-date info for tiles.
    For street-level coverage, Google Street View tends to be more widely available; Bing Streetside is smaller and more selective. ()

Recommendation: for casual 3D exploration and time-based views, use Google Earth Pro; for quick browser lookups and embedding maps in web pages consider the web mapping options (Google Maps or Bing/Azure Maps). If you plan to build on Microsoft’s platform for production, check the Azure Maps migration and Bing Maps retirement guidance and confirm current API availability before committing. (blogs.bing.com)

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for Dani

I never even heard of Virtual Earth before? Google Earth is cool :)

Member Avatar for tonydan

I never even heard of Virtual Earth before? Google Earth is cool :)

Google one was started before the Microsoft Virtual Earth one

see microsoft virtual earth official homepage

the at arcon5 seems to hype it up abit - ive read good and bad things about it microsoft version - but never used either enough to make my decision - and dont really wanna use them both and waste my time!

Member Avatar for shamancatfish

OK, Maybe it's me but I'm not seeing any sattelite views on Microsoft's version. Google Earth, however, allows you to switch from map view to satellite view, I believe or at least you can overlay roads. The download has no spyware or malware in it so it's clean. I haven't been so happy with Goolge's toolbar. Sometimes Goolge has some issues when searching for landmarks but maybe they've gotten that working better since last time I was on it. Gimme Googls Earth anyday.

Member Avatar for zberteoc

MSN Virtual Earth is a web application while Google Earth is a client desktop application so they are two different things. MSN VE can be compared to Google Maps but not to Google Earth. Therefor GE has much more powerfull features than MSN VE and Google Maps one of them being the elevation feature where you can actually generate (by downloading) a 3d rised simulation of the buildings in a city and "fly" between them. You can also build/genearte/download elevation for special spots like egyptian pyramids for example. You can find all these as free downloads, along with other stuff, to use them with GE at:

http://www.googleearthhacks.com/,

which is a totally independent website from Google.


MSN VE also gives you images from sattelite if you click on the Aerial link where the map controls are.

.

Member Avatar for bluscarab

I know this thread is old but FYI - MS Virtual Earth actually started long before Google Earth. It was called Terraserver back in the late 90's. It was patchy and 2D only but it covered some serious geography that we used for work. GoogleEarth appeared 7 years later.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.