Cool things you should know about Windows Live #2 - Virtual Earth 3D Videos

Here's the second piece about cool Windows Live stuff that's worth knowing about.

What is it?

I'm sure you're aware that Virtual Earth has a very cool in-browser 3D mode that really sets it apart from other web mapping solutions. You may also be aware that you can create your own collections of points of interest on a map, and share these with other people.

But here's something new: You can now ask Virtual Earth to create a video that skims around the map to each of the points of interest in a collection. I've done that for some UK cities as per the video embedded into this post.

What's cool about it?

• It's free
• It let's you share cool and interesting locations via video eg post it to youtube, or host it on Silverlight Streaming as I've done here

Where do I get it?

Visit www.3dmaptour.com. From the "collections" drop down, choose "Open your collections". Click "new collection", fill out some details like a name, and press save. Then explore the map, creating pushpins wherever you want and adding them to your collection. Under actions choose "tour in 3D", then press the video record button to make your video.