Redmond, Washington — In an attempt to present U.S. and Western Europe images in high-resolution mapped aerially, the Redmond-based software monopolist Microsoft just rolled out a new Web application that showcases vivid photography of 153 spots around the United States, and is part of Microsoft’s Bing Maps Global Ortho project.
The Redmond Vole has embarked with a novel concept to create a high-resolution, seamless mapping mosaic of the world one day which would not only make you admire the place you want to visit, but also be wonder-struck about how symmetric and artistic the world really seems, when seen from up above.
Aerial image from Bing Maps Global Ortho project of Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah. (Credit: Microsoft)
The in-depth bird’s-eye views, which Microsoft is calling Bing Maps GeoArt, is basically part of the company’s Bing Maps Global Ortho project, a project to create a high-resolution, seamless mapping mosaic of the continental United States and Western Europe.
To accomplish this objective, Microsoft is spending more than $100 million for the project and has already collaborating with pilots to fly aircrafts that are equipped with specially designed cameras that cost more than $1 million each and snap shots every few seconds to capture images where each pixel equals between 6 and 12 inches on the ground.
As such, the Redmond-base software giant plans to finalize mapping of the continental United States and Western Europe by June 2012. So far, the company has captured about half of the United States, though it has only released images for about a third of the country. It is still processing the newer images. And it has photographed about 10 percent of Europe.
Essentially, The new GeoArt application was not incorporated in the initial plan for Global Ortho. But as the aerial images came in, Microsoft found gems worth sharing.
“It is a really random collection,” said Steve Stanzel, general manager, Bing Maps Imagery Technology. “Most often, it is things that are just surprising. The patterns that come out are abstract art.”
Eventually, at the next level, the company will arrange with pilots to fly over territories that have changed, such as places affected by natural calamities, to shoot new images. Eventually, the company plans to expand the project to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and ultimately the rest of the world.
Moreover, the project is not about just taking pictures of the world and compiling them, and uploading them on a web app, but Microsoft also does the quality control of the images itself. It aims to make sure the images are smoke-free and cloud-free, with no non-permanent snow and no standing water.
Besides, in territories with deciduous trees, it takes pictures during brief periods in the spring and fall when the leaves are off the trees. Then, Microsoft color balances the shots, making sure the images are consistent so users can smoothly scroll across them without ever realizing they’re moving from one shot to the next.
The outcome is remarkably vivid aerial mapping that, when Microsoft completes the project, will be consistent as users pan in any direction. With these enhancements, users would be able to smoothly scroll across various territories of the world without even realizing that they are actually shifting from one image to the next one.
However, Microsoft has transformed some of the photographs into Windows desktop themes that can be downloaded for computers running Windows 7. In addition, some of the most extraordinary are geometric shapes plowed into farmlands, such as the fields east of Pataha, Wash., that Microsoft highlights.
Furthermore, there is also a crisp aerial shot of Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and a bird’s-eye view of Pebble Beach Golf Links along the California coast. Lastly, the themes includes a swoopy white sand formations that pop out of the green Gulf of Mexico in Cedar Key, Fla., and reptile claw-looking outcroppings in Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah.
Most current efforts Microsoft and rival Google often have images that are most clear in dense urban areas, but much less so in suburbs or rural areas, but this project aims to aerially map the countryside and rolling landscapes as well. United States and Western Europe shall be mapped by the end of this month and the rest of the world would follow.
Finally, the cost and initiative is huge for a product that does not have direct returns on the investment. But Microsoft is banking on a halo effect from the Global Ortho project. Between 20 percent and 30 percent of Bing search queries have some local intent, Stanzel said. Microsoft sees the project as a way to compete by providing those Web searchers higher-quality mapping imagery than Google, which stitches together mapping imagery from a variety of sources.
“When people flock to Bing and find the information they need, they come back,” Stanzel said.
View Bing Maps Photos (Here)