The Battle for Virtual Earth

The battle for the Virtual Earth has begun. That’s right, Microsoft has attempted to take on both Google Earth and Google Maps with one package – MSN Virtual Earth. Microsoft Virtual Earth’s (MVE) interface is very similar to that of Google Maps, which is that it works on an online interface. However, MVE is very different from Google Earth in it’s interface, since Google Earth is a downloadable application.

With MVE, Microsoft has attempted to combine the best of both Google Earth and Google Maps. MVE allows you to instantly switch between map view and aerial satellite view for any location. The map feature is satisfactory, if still not up there with Google, but try to get into a lesser known country, like our very own India, and you can’t go any further in than a 50 mile radius. As far as the satellite imagery is concerned, the photos are once again found lacking in comparison to Google Earth, with reports flooded ove the internet that Apple’s campus is shown as barren land. One feature with MVE that caught the eye was that it offered actual photographs of buildings taken at 45 degrees, unlike Google earth’s virtual buildings.

Again, being a Microsoft product, the website does not work properly in the Firefox and Opera browsers, but only in Internet Explorer. Personally, I didn’t like the online interface for the aerial photographs, to which I’d prefer Google’s approach of a downloadable tool, because of the high graphic requirements, and high bandwidth consumption. Hence, the verdict is that I stick with Google.