Keith Kinnan's Blog : Live Search Maps

Bing Maps

keithkin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:47:00 GMT

Microsoft Virtual Earth is now officially known as “Bing Maps”. You can see the Bing logo on the Bing Maps website (formerly known as Live Search Maps) and on the Bing Maps Interactive SDK . You can see the SDKs for the Bing Maps Web Services and the Bing Map Control 6.2. The Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP will remain “Virtual Earth” for now since it is a CTP, but will be part of the Bing Maps platform when the next release is available.

For more details on the change from Virtual Earth to Bing Maps, check out this blog post from Chris Pendleton on Bing Maps which has a nice video discussing the new name and check out Bing!.

Bing Maps Interactive SDK

Bing Maps

(Note: This post is also available on the Bing Maps Platform Team Blog)

New Features in Live Search Maps

keithkin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:27:00 GMT

I know it was a few weeks ago when we released an updated version of Live Search Maps built on the Virtual Earth platform. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to blog about it yet. So in case you missed it, here are some details. Some of the new features include:

Multi-Point Routing. You can now specify multiple locations along a route when getting driving directions.
Landmark Hints for driving directions which specify nearby locations to help out with route identification when driving.
Localized map tiles for different markets.
Real-Time Weather integrated with the 3D control
Improved Details Page for Business listings.
Improved Community Content Indexing so user generated content can be searched faster after it is uploaded.

For more details on the new Live Search Maps update, check out this post on Chris Pendleton's Blog.

Live Search Maps Update!

keithkin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:52:47 GMT

We just released an updated version of Live Search Maps built on the Virtual Earth platform. It is difficult to list all the new features, but here are some of the new features:

Birdseye Imagery with Labels - Birdseye imagery now supports Road Labels showing roads and names on the birdseye scene similar to Aerial map style. The navigation control was improved with a Labels toggle which now works in Aerial and Birdseye modes -- so you can turn the Labels on and off.
Improved 3D Experience - Improved 3D models and detailed textures including trees in cities. Initially this is in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, and Dallas but will be expanding to more cities in the future. Improved 3DVIA Modelling
Improved Collections - Export collections to KML, GeoRSS, or GPX format. Add a MapCruncher custom tile layers to your collection and view them in Live Search Maps. Previously this was only available for API users.Collections Explorer filtering - you can now filter your collection searches by tags . Subscribe to neighborhood region RSS feed
Improved Directions and Traffic- Directions now uses MSR Clear Flow technology for enhanced traffic-based routing. Also added localized itineraries for certain locales.
Improved One-Click Directions - One-Click directions map is now interactive. Reverse geocoding is now supported so the address will be displayed when you right-click on the map and ask for 1-click Directions.
Enhanced Tour Support - Improved movie resolution support, speed control, and added photo support to movies
Improved Browser Support - Added Safari 3 and IE8 Beta Support
v6.1 Virtual Earth API - Reverse compatible with v6 and adds enhancements. I'll post more details about this in a future post.

For more details on the new Live Search Maps update, check out this post at the Virtual Earth Spaces Blog

Virtual Earth API: Adding KML or GeoRSS Layers to the Map

keithkin — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:14:00 GMT

One of the new features of the Virtual Earth v6 Map Control API is the ability to import KML layers on the map. Previous versions of the API allowed you to import GeoRSS using client-side XML parsing. However, one of the restrictions was that the GeoRSS file had to be on the same domain as the application or the browser would bring up a security warning unless the feed was from a trusted site in the client browser.

For v6, we have improved this by added a new VEDataType.ImportXML option to the ImportShapeLayerData call on VEMap. This new call uses the same service from Live Search Maps which allows users to import KML, GeoRSS, or GPX into user collections. In the Virtual Earth API, it will import the XML into a shape layer in your application. It also allows you to load these data files from different domains without causing a browser security warning.

Here are the steps for importing a KML, GeoRSS, or GPX file into your Virtual Earth application:

Create a shape layer

var shapeLayer = new VEShapeLayer();

2. Create a shape source specification with type VEDataType.ImportXML, the url to the XML file, and a reference to the shape layer:

var shapeSpec = new VEShapeSourceSpecification(VEDataType.ImportXML,"http://dsc.discovery.com/utilities/googleearth/nationalparks/nationalparks.kml", shapeLayer);

3. Import the data into shape layer by calling ImportShapeLayerData on the map with the specification:

map.ImportShapeLayerData(shapeSpec);

Here's a link to a simple example which imports a KML file from the Discovery Channel that shows different national parks around the United States:

Virtual Earth API - Import XML Sample

Note: you can also import XML files directly into Live Search Maps by opening a collection and then clicking on Import and entering the url. You can also, use the following url syntax directly:

http://maps.live.com/?mapurl=[insert url here]

For example:

http://maps.live.com/?mapurl=http://dsc.discovery.com/utilities/googleearth/nationalparks/nationalparks.kml

New Live Search Maps Release!

keithkin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:07:00 GMT

We have just released a new version of Live Search Maps built on the Virtual Earth platform. The team has worked very hard to get this release out the door.

There are many new features and improvements, so it is difficult to list them all. However, some of the major new features include:

1-Click Directions - This is a great feature that shows how to get to a location in 1-click without having to insert a start address. It shows the directions from all major roads in the area to that location. For example, most people know how to get out of their neighborhood to a major highway, so you don't need the entire route. This also works great for parties or large gatherings if you need to send out directions to several people coming from different locations.
Birds Eye in 3D - Now in 3D, you can zoom in on a city with 3D models and then click on the Birdseye link in the navigation control to overlay Birdseye imagery on top of a 3D scene. The control will show an outline of the Birdseye imagery (similar to the Photosynth UI) and you can click and see the imagery overlayed on top of the 3D.
Improved Search - The search interface has improved and is now simpler to use with a single search box. You can refine the scope for Businesses, People, Collections, and Locations
Traffic Based Routing - When getting driving directions, you can now select an option to route around traffic which takes into consideration the real time traffic conditions.
Category Browsing - When you search for a city, a list of common business listing categories in that area is now displayed with counts to help you find what you are looking for. As you zoom in and pan the map, the counts will update. You can also click on a category and get more detailed categories.
Collections Search - You can search for public collections using keywords and find collections you are interested in.
Collections Explore - You can explore collections and find public collections in an area by panning and zooming the map.
Collections Data Import - You can now import data into collections from GeoRSS, GPX, KML, or KMZ data sources.
3D Models - Using the new Microsoft Virtual Earth 3DVIA Technology Preview, you can now create your own 3D buildings and models in a collection.
3D Tours - You can now make your collections viewable as 3D tours. You can set the preferred view of an object and add a photo with information. This also can work with custom models created with the Virtual Earth 3DVIA Technology Preview. You can share the tour with your friends, and you can even record the tour as a video.
Improved Details Page - There is now more information on the details page for business listings.
Improved Print Page - The print page is new and improved. It has an improved layout and makes it a lot easier to print maps and driving directions.

For more details on the new Live Search Maps update, check out this post at the Virtual Earth Spaces Blog.

Virtual Earth Screen Saver

keithkin — Sat, 19 May 2007 07:51:00 GMT

Check out the Virtual Earth Screen Saver I created and uploaded on CodePlex, Microsoft's open source project website. The screen saver reads Virtual Earth permalinks from RSS feeds and uses the Virtual Earth API to show Birdseye and satellite images with information about those images from the feeds. This is released open source on CodePlex with a Microsoft Community License, so feel free to view/download the source and contribute to the project.

Here are some screen shots:

Here's a list of the Features:

Supports multiple RSS feeds showing Virtual Earth scenes
Displays information about the scene from the RSS feed in the top right of the screen
Supports PageUp/PageDown and arrow keys to allow you to manually cycle through feed images while the screensaver is running
Supports Enter key to launch the current scene in Live Search Maps
Supports custom RSS Feeds (from Internet or local disk). The default RSS feeds are from Birdseye Tourist and Virtual Globetrotting
Supports Aerial, Hybrid, Road, and Birdseye permalinks from Live Search Maps in RSS feeds
Supports automatic image update time in seconds (default is 90 seconds), and feed update time in minutes (default is 120 minutes)
Supported on Windows with .NET Framework 2.0

To install:

Download and Run VirtualEarthScreensaverSetup.msi and go through the setup process.
Go to Screen Saver settings in Windows and select "VirtualEarthScreensaver" as your screen saver.

For more details, see the Virtual Earth Screen Saver project on CodePlex.

Live Search Maps / Virtual Earth Update

keithkin — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 06:52:00 GMT

We just released another update to Live Search Maps today! This release includes the following:

Improved performance
Improved Firefox support - including 3D support on Windows
Ratings and Reviews for search listings
Improved details page for search listings when clicking on them
GeoRSS feeds for user collections
Improved drawing experience
User experience enhancements to existing features such as the scratchpad, traffic, and driving directions

For more details, check out the detailed post at the Live Maps / Virtual Earth Spaces blog.

Also, the Virtual Earth v5 APIs will be available soon in a few weeks. Check back here for updates for future posts regarding v5 API features and code samples.

Bing Maps Traffic Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar

keithkin — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:41:00 GMT

If you have not seen this already, check out the Bing Maps Traffic Gadget.

It attaches to your Windows Vista sidebar and shows the real-time traffic conditions from Bing Maps for the major city around the U.S. of your choice. The cities you can choose from include:

Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington D.C.

Here are some screenshots of the gadget:

The Red on the map indicates a traffic speed of 0-25 mph. The Yellow indicates traffic speed of 25-45 mph. The Green indicates a traffic speed of 45+ mph.

The gadget also provides easy shortcuts to the Search, Driving Directions, and Traffic features at Bing Maps. If you hover over the map, the shortcut buttons appear on the left.

Here's a screenshot of the real-time Traffic feature at Bing Maps:

Virtual Earth Update

keithkin — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:24:00 GMT

We have just released an updated version of Virtual Earth at http://maps.live.com! The biggest change this release is the improved Birds Eye user interface. Positioning the map is now a lot simpler with the new improved small map navigation feature. Using the small map, you can position the center of the viewport where you want the Birds Eye scene to be. Also, as you pan to the edge of a Birds Eye scene, the next scene will automatically load. As you approach the end of a scene, the cursor will also change to a crosshair and you can click where you want the next scene to be centered. This improves the transition between scenes.

Another feature added this release is the distance measuring while drawing. As you draw with the drawing tools, the distance is shown. When you add the drawing to a collection, the total distance is shown for each item.

For more details about this release, see: http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com

Live Local - New Features

keithkin — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:54:00 GMT

We have just released a new version of Windows Live Local! Check it out at http://local.live.com. Some of the new features this release include:

Support for drawing lines/polygons on the map with user collections. See the new drawing tools in the Scratch Pad
People Search (white pages)
Send to Phone / Call for Free
Improved Search Experience
API enhancements such as the ability to add your own custom imagery to the map with Tile Layering - see http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/ for details on the API enhancements.

Windows Live Local v3 Released

keithkin — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:49:00 GMT

Windows Live Local v3 release went live on May 24th! Our team worked hard to get this release out. Try it out at http://local.live.com. The major features of this release include real-time traffic, user collections, new UI, improved search, improved driving directions, and increased map coverage. We also have a new and improved API, which is one of the major features I worked on. Check out the Virtual Earth Interactive SDK for more details. I look forward to sharing more info about the APIs and Virtual Earth here in the future.