Mark Brown's Web Platform Blog

Hey everybody, here's your chance to tell us what you love or hate about Virtual Earth. We've just posted an online survey here, http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/204407/e697/ Developers are really important to us and we want your feedback to make Virtual...

State and Local Governments love mapping stuff. They also create really cool looking websites that their citizens find really useful. Here's a list of some State and Local Governments that are using Virtual Earth and what they are doing with it. To quote...

I wrote a couple weeks ago about how Microsoft was working to help the people in Myanmar with corporate help, people, everything we can to help the people there. Well Virtual Earth is helping out with one of our Partners, IDV Solutions who build a wonderful...

Our Multi-Map guys in the UK are partnering as one of the sponsors for Mashed 2008, organized by the BBC Backstage and giving gave away 100 free tickets. If you're in the UK get in on this now. Get Mashed at the Ally Pally - June 21st, 2008 We’re delighted...

My friends over on the Virtual Earth 3D Team today wrote a blog entry about a recent article by Stephen Shankland about a Google experiment to capture 3D data with lasers attached to the heads of sharks the Street View cameras used to capture their street...

Hey I'm going to Tech Ed Orlando . Well, actually I'm presenting at it. If you're going come check out my session, WUX208. Behind the Maps: The Technology of Microsoft Virtual Earth. We'll also be at, the Technical Learning Center as well and if you're...

I recently bought this JVC HD camera to make videos on Virtual Earth. I was hoping to do an interview with Chris Pendleton and Steve Lombardi at our booth but instead recorded their Birds of a Feather sessions at Where 2.0. I'm kind of bummed because...

I'm glad I work for Microsoft. There are lots of resources here to try and help others who are so much in need. I remember when Katrina hit Microsoft worked with the Red Cross to setup a system to help relatives and loved ones find each other. This time...

Wow, Virtual Earth sure is getting a lot of exposure on TV lately. There are a number of news stations that use it for their news stories and for their weather reports. Now CBS is on the map with their latest episode of CSI: NY. In this latest episode...

So the other day I was following an email thread on a discussion forum for Virtual Earth internally here at Microsoft and someone says, "if only VE clients had “inertia” like Google Earth..." and someone writes back. "Inertia is there, it's just turned...

Just got into my hotel room at Where 2.0 here in Burlingame, CA at the SFO Airport Marriott. Got a nice view of the bay and the SFO runway right on the bay. I requested a bay side room not just because it's nicer to look out over water than a warehouse...

Microsoft holds an event every year called Location Summit. It's a two day event where we invite scientists and others who are deep into the mapping technologies to come and share in the research they are doing. I got looped into this thing to cover for...

One of the uses of Virtual Earth that really surprised me at first was using Virtual Earth in the Media and Entertainment industry. When I was at NAB a month ago I saw quite a few companies actively showing their wares with Virtual Earth. A few of these...

Well not really, at least not as an OOBE, but when you get smart people figuring out cool ways of using Virtual Earth it CAN! Saw an article by Doug Newcomb on Wired.com today about a site called, njection.com created by Shannon Atkinson who created an...

One of the things I often hear from developers using Virtual Earth is "Why can't I drag stuff around on the maps?". Great question! I know some of my friends on the Virtual Earth team have posted some articles on this in the past but I wanted to show...

A surprising article yesterday on Computer World . Money quote: “Microsoft scored high in user satisfaction for its Web services, software development kits, documentation and forums. In the Web services category, Microsoft came in on top this year after...

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Marc Schweigert from our Developer and Platform Evangelism team is AWESOME. Yesterday he posted a blog entry about how he took the entire Virtual Earth Interactive SDK and rewrote it as a solution inside...