chrispoole.com

So, Virtual Earth has launched, basically Microsoft’s version of Google Maps.

Not all that impressive though in my view. Firstly, it’s definitely slower (though this is quite acceptable being the first day it’s gone “live” officially. But, I also found it harder to find certain things. For example, its harder to find New York with VE than google Maps. And when you do zoom in, you find that the imagery is in black and white. Again, not all too impressive when your biggest rival has had full-colour imagery for months now.

They also seem to have gone back in time, which I personally think they should do something about. It didn’t take them long to update Flight Sim…

I think they need to improve this considerably. Example: try finding the empire state building with both systems. Didn’t take me too long with Google, but with VE, I know i’m in the right place (i’ve cross-referenced with Google), but I just cant find it. It seems to be right smack in the middle of a change-over on the images, and it just doesn’t fit.

Google is still the king of the draggable map world.