MapCruncher™ beta for Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ is a newly-released, innovative tool that allows anyone to import maps, layer them, and share them on a website using the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform. Quickly combine your drawn-to-scale map with the Microsoft Virtual Earth environment to create a unique, composite view. Supplement existing road and aerial imagery with detailed custom information by easily importing entire maps into the Virtual Earth environment.

MapCruncher is a tool designed to quickly convert existing maps into an online format that is as fast and easy to use as Virtual Earth. MapCruncher transforms maps into a common Mercator projection used by Virtual Earth. By putting a large collection of maps into a common projection, users can mix-and-match maps to use them in new ways. MapCruncher will take your input map (such as a PDF), and generate a collection of small, correctly-aligned tiles that can be viewed in Virtual Earth.

For a quick demo of what MapCruncher can do, see our online Map Gallery

Supported Source Map Types

MapCruncher supports the following source map types:

• PDF: The highest-quality results are usually obtained from a PDF file. PDF files often contain vector graphics, which look good even when they are rendered at high zoom levels.
• JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP: These raster formats can be used with MapCruncher, but unless the source map is at high resolution, the results will look poor at high zoom levels. Scanned maps (such as historical maps) are often available as raster images.
• WMF, EMF: These file formats seem to be less common, but they can include vector data, and can produce high-quality results.

Browser Support

MapCruncher is compatible with the same browsers supported by Microsoft Virtual Earth including:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and later versions on Microsoft Windows
• Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and later versions on Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS X, and Linux

Download MapCruncher Now