New Live Maps Hits the Streets

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image The new version of Live Maps is being rolled out this week.  Lots of new features.  Check out the post from the Virtual Earth team for more details.  In summary:

  • New & streamlined user interface
  • Party Maps! Formally known as 1-Click Directions
  • Route Around Traffic as part of directions
  • Import data from GeoRSS, GPX, and KML
  • Birds Eye View in 3D
  • 3D Tours and Videos of Collections
  • 3D Modeling
  • Search & Explore Collections
  • Enhanced Details Page for business listings

The VE team says there will be more information coming soon on their blog about other new features in this new version. 

I was up late last night till 1am playing around with what I thought is THE coolest mapping feature I've seen yet: Bird's Eye in 3D.   Bird's Eye in 3D is a result of collaboration between the Virtual Earth team and Microsoft Research's Photosynth team.  It's hard to explain this without seeing it yourself, so watch the video up on the Virtual Earth blog to see it in action.  That won't even do it justice as it's a grainy YouTube video.   You've gotta load this thing up to see it for real!   One look, and you'll "get it".  This is a whole new user experience for browsing aerial photography.