The era of rooftop geocoding is upon us. Rooftop geocoding is now available in MapPoint Web Service. What is rooftop geocoding? With the popularity of aerial photography interpolation geocoding which has been in use for years is no longer sufficient to accurately pinpoint where a location is. Rooftop...

I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but for those customer who use Microsoft's MapPoint Web Service, today marks a fantastic day. With the release of Version 5.2 we have moved out of the Microsoft Extranet system (which is great and all), but now you are no longer held to the strict password resets required...

It's official - InfoNow is now a Microsoft partner and will be pushing the Virtual Earth and MapPoint Web Service platforms for its customers. Why is this significant? Oh, I don't know....maybe because they are one of if not the biggest integrator of MapQuest technology into customer applications......

ETech (Emerging Technology Conference) is in San Diego which is reason enough, but now you have another reason - ME! Ha! I'll be presenting a 45-minute session titled "Virtual Earth in the Enterprise" March 28 @ 5:25 You can read about me and my session on the ETech site. This will be my first trip to...

If you're coming to the Microsoft Hosting Summit Tuesday, March 20 expect to see a kick ass Virtual Earth demo by none of than yours truly. I'll be presenting an application you've probably seen before, as well as, one you probably haven't. I'll get 4 whole minutes during Andy Lees' presentation. Hope...

ConocoPhilips (COP) replaced their MapPoint Web Service Station Finder and Trip Planner with Virtual Earth. COP brands include Union 76, Conoco and Philips 66. Go to their site and click on "station finder" to enter your address and search radius. You'll get a list of the nearest stations including the...

This week Starbucks rolled out a new SMS service which has gotten quite a bit of press . The process is simple, you send a SMS (aka text message) containting a postal code to 697289 (MySBUX) and you will receive back the nearest Starbuck's locations. Or, you could logon to www.starbucks.com from a mobile...

Infospace.com and local.infospace.com is now live on MapPoint Web Service. This has been a long process that started 2 years ago(!) and is now live. InfoSpace powers such sites as MetaCrawler.com , WebCrawler.com , WebFetch and DogPile.com . All yellow page result listings from these site will now use...

The mobile team at Microsoft has released an SMS application that lets you perform quick searches by sending a text message to 95483 (WLIVE or OTRIE for those of us with PPC). It's actually pretty slick. I sent a text for "sergios 92123" and I received 2 SMS messages back (2 pages worth since apparently...

MWS 5.2 is scheduled to release to the web on March 15. Most of the changes are backend hardware and architecture, so you won't be affected; however, there is one significant change you should be aware of and that is authentication. We're moving our authentication away from Microsoft Extranet (requiring...

Did you know upgrading from MWS to VE from a contract perspective is SOOOOO easy? It has recently come to my attention that many of our current customers didn't even know Microsoft owns BOTH MapPoint Web Service AND Virtual Earth. Soooo, just talk to your local licensing rep. You get everything that...

Target Corporation launched their new store locator with MapPoint Web Service and Virtual Earth. Both? Yes! See, Target was smart enough to realize that they wanted to maintain the same user experience for their locator that users had become familiar with, but also provide a robust interface which includes...

Avis Europe just rolled out their new site using MapPoint Web Service. You can read the Microsoft press release here and see the working application here . I like how they declare it "hiring a car." Kind of like hiring a limo driver or something. Nice implementation though!

The official version of MWS is now 4.5.1, for the record. We upgraded many of the backend infrastructure and added some features. In a nutshell we (1) added a new European map style, (2) added some logo removal capabilities for smaller device screens, (3) updated the geocoding data, (4) and fixed some...

I'll be working the Microsoft Virtual Earth booth at the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference next week. Stop by the booth and say, "Hey!" I'm going to try to blog the trip on my Inman provided blog , but being on a time zone 3 hours ahead of what I'm used to may lead to some laziness. . . we'll see...

In case you missed my webcast on "Using Mapping and Location Technologies to Grow Your Business" you can view the recorded version here: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/Register.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032313598&CountryCode=US&IsRedirect=false . Other than the glitch in the middle...

We're releasing our 4th customer service release for MapPoint Web Service in the wee hours of the night on Thursday/early Friday. This could affect your applications, specifically the uploading of your data. Please ensure your applications are fully tested and your firewalls allow for incoming connections...

I'll be presenting an online web cast November 9, 2006 @ 1 PST covering mapping technologies for the enterprise. You can sign up here: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032313597&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Here's an abstract of my presentation...

The following message is from the product group to you . . . Hello, Your opinions about MapPoint Web Service and Virtual Earth platform are very important to us! We’re conducting a satisfaction survey and would like you to evaluate the level and quality of services you’re receiving from Microsoft...

I'll be there if you want to stop by the Microsoft booth and chat about VE, MWS, MapPoint or my blog. :) Here's more info on the conference: http://www.inman.com/connectsf/sf.aspx For 10 years Real Estate Connect has been the premier event where leaders in real estate, technology and innovation...

We just completed a roll out of new functionality on MapPoint Web Service. Highlights of this release include enhanced geocoding in the U.S. - we finally ditched our home grown geocoder in exchange for a licensed one. New API’s in the Customer Data Service to enhance data management - specifically...

Steve Milroy will be presenting on how to integrate data into a Virtual Earth application. Live Webcast, Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:00:00 GMT Many applications can benefit from location capabilities, such as store locators, data analysis/business intelligence, and fleet solutions. This webcast provides a...

I’ve discovered a way to easily (and cheaply) improve store locator relevancy by using a driving distance calculation to determine the closest locations to a user instead of as the crow flies. “As the crow flies?” you ask. The FindNearby() method in MapPoint Web Service uses a calculation of the Earth...

We're rolling out some updates for MapPoint Web Service on May 15 that you'll need to be aware of. The next CSR will consist of the following features: New geocoding engine for the Find() API, specifically FindAddress(). Our geocoding has been spotty for certain address areas, so we're fixing the...

I've seen a few implementations of MWS routing (driving directions) used by our customers that aren't necessarily done correctly and it's actually creating some consternation with customer's end users. With that I give you, how to use MWS Driving Directions in your applications. First some explanations...