Mark Brown's Web Platform Blog : Collections

Add your own 3D models to Virtual Earth

mjbrown — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:00:43 GMT

Well we've finally done it! We now have a way for you to create or import your own models and put them into Virtual Earth using truSpace which comes from Caligari who we brought into Microsoft not too long ago. Not only that but you can get truSpace for FREE. You can also import models you have already from many of the popular 3D modeling tools into truSpace and then upload them right into Virtual Earth. So get it for FREE today.

Chris Pendleton has all the details. This is a long post but includes step-by-step instructions on how to load your 3D models into Virtual Earth so it's worth a read and also includes a great video showing how you could use truSpace to create a virtual retail environment. --Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Virtual Earth,3D,Caligari,truSpace

Find Developer Events Using Virtual Earth

mjbrown — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:09:19 GMT

One of my friends at Microsoft, Glen Gordon in our US Developer and Platform Evangelism Team (DPE) turned me on to something really cool they just did. If you didn’t know these guys are constant road warriors presenting at events across the US. They just created a new website called, Community Megaphone that has a complete listing of all upcoming Developer Events across the US. It’s got some nice features such as allowing you to add events to your Outlook Calendar, but the BEST FEATURE is the ability to get a map of the location using Virtual Earth.

And if that wasn’t enough they went a step further. They also went and built and RSS Feed that includes GeoRSS. This allows anybody to import the feed into Live Maps Collection. He didn’t stop there though. This gets even cooler because with the data in GeoRSS and if you have one of these new Windows Mobile phones that has a GPS built into it you can now use your phone to see if there are any Developer Events close to you. Here’s a little screen shot of what it looks like on the phone but check out his post for all the details on how you can do this too.

Enjoy

Share your Favorite Places in Virtual Earth with your Friends

mjbrown — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:00:47 GMT

I was reading Chris Pendleton's blog today when I came across a feature I knew of but didn't quite understand to the extent it could be used. Chris blogged about his upcoming trip to the Coachella Music Festival and he got the idea to create a Public Collection in Live Maps for all the music festivals around the world that are coming up that not only can be shared easily but also subscribed to via RSS.

This feature is really cool because not only can you use Live Maps to go find a place and then add it to a collection, you can add additional information, URL's and a photo to the items you add. After seeing his post I just went and created one myself. Since I am a huge fan of Napa Valley Wines and the Wineries I created a Public Collection of some of my favorites here, http://maps.live.com/?v=2&cid=2CFA69F79BD87A65!818

Check it out as I go into detail on how to create one of these.

First, go to Maps.Live.Com and Sign in

Next, click on Collections

Your Collections will then open, then Click New Collection

The Collection Properties will show up. Give your new collection a name and a description. Also be sure to put some key words in there to make your collection more searchable. Also, be sure to leave the Check Boxes checked for Sharing and to allow them to copy the items you add to it into their own custom collections. Then click Save.

Now, go search on Live Maps. In this example I did a search for Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley. When you find the item you want, click on "Add to collection"

Next hover over the item in the collection and a box will pop out. Click on Edit Properties.

Here's the cool part. You can add your own text, URL and a Photo to make the item in the collection even richer. This all shows up when you see the final product. In this case I typed in some comments, added the URL for the winery's website and also added a nice photo of the winery that will show up when you share your collection. After this I went back and searched for more wineries I like and then followed the steps above to add them into the new collection.

Now when you're all done adding items to your new collection, click on the Actions link and then click Add to Favorites.

This will bring up a new window where you create a Favorites Link out of it and gives your Favorite a public name and provides the option to share it. It also generates a link that you can share with your friends and its much shorter than the links for other things you create in Live Maps.

So now, here's what you see. Take the link from the window above and paste it into the address bar of your browser and voila, check it out. All your items from your collection with all the cool pictures and text you added to it. Another great feature is that you and your friends can subscribe to this collection so back when you first created your collection you left all the share check boxes checked they can also add to it. How cool!!!

Technorati Tags: Virtual Earth