Earthware Blog

Bing Maps have just released their latest offering to web based digital mapping and it’s pretty impressive.

New features include tagged photos from Flickr which overlay the exact location on the Bing Maps Streetside imagery, putting a static image in context of it’s local surroundings enabling the user the to compare a location at different times of day as well as historically.

The transition of the imagery as you zoom in from space to the street side is seamless moving through road view, aerial view and then Bird’s Eye view before ‘landing’ you on the ground so you can walk  around the street. But it doesn’t stop there: Bing Maps are now starting to map the inside of buildings.

And, if you get bored of navigating around Earth (well just America so far), then look up to the sky and navigate your way through the planets and stars.

Seeing as Bing Maps is an interactive mapping experience, watch the man (well one of the men) behind these new features, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, and see for yourself what they can do. Our question is, will you be joining the (over)excited applauding by the end?

If you are interested in finding out more about online mapping and how you can use it please contact Earthware on 0845 642 9880 or email info@earthware.co.uk

At the inaugural Bing Maps User group in the UK, Jim Lynn from the BBC was invited to present on a project that he led at the BBC to explore how Bing Maps Silverlight can be used.  I am not a techie but found this a fascinating exploration into how Silverlight is transforming the online mapping experience.  As a synopsis, Jim spent nearly twelve months on different aspects of this project.  First, he created and loaded Ordnance Survey map tiles into Bing Maps Silverlight to enable deep zoom Ordnance Survey mapping. He then explored how you can integrate geographical based data and information into the maps using examples such as David Dimbleby’s “How We Built Britain” showing the video playing as the marker moves along a path on the map as the video shows him driving down a road.

Jim also separated the Ordnance Survey names layer from the map layer to enable the map to be rotated whilst the names remain horizontal on the page (no mean feat) and embedded deep zoom photographs at their correct geographical locations which cluster to avoid overlapping as you change zoom levels. These embedded photographs can also be ‘flipped over’ to reveal information about the place on the back. He also showed (for a small part of Britain) how the BBC archive can be displayed on a Bing Map.

If you want to talk about how your data/information/business can be brought to life using Bing Maps Silverlight, please contact Earthware for a chat.

We often get asked by our clients, and prospective clients, what areas of the UK are covered by Bird’s Eye imagery. Whilst we have a long list of place names this isn’t always helpful as what you really want is to see is the UK Bird’s Eye coverage plotted on a map.

Well we found one the other day that Microsoft have done and here it is (areas shaded yellow have Bird’s Eye):

The two other questions that we often get asked are “Will our area have Bird’s Eye View imagery soon?” or “Will new imagery be released in our area?”. As the imagery is provided by BLOM pictometry (I was lucky enough to have a tour of the hanger and see the planes and the cameras they use – very cool!) and where and when routes are flown depends on a number of often uncontrollable factors, I am not even sure that Microsoft know the answer to this. However, if you want to keep up to date then please see the monthly releases in the Bing Maps World Tour, a bespoke mapping solution which Earthware created for Microsoft, which clearly displays the details of all Microsoft’s monthly imagery releases (aerial imagery and Birds Eye views).

After months of biting their tongues, Bing have finally announced their latest additions to Bing Maps by releasing the beta version of Silverlight Bing Maps which features two new map modes (Streetside View and Enhanced Bird’s Eye) plus an Application Gallery and also Photosynth to name just a few.

The entire site is built in Silverlight (although the Bing Maps AJAX site is still available  if for some reason you don’t want to see the amazing new features). Features include:

Streetside: ground level, fully stitched together high res photographs giving a seamless 360 degree panorama.

Enhanced Bird’s Eye: In urban areas: Bing have used high resolution photography and stereo data to create 3D models of locations and placed them into the 2D interface of a webpage but with 3D aspect ratio from Silverlight 3. In non-urban areas: Bing have used their satellite imagery and aerial photos and re-projected the Earth to give a better perspective of the world.

Application Gallery: a catalogue of all the Bing Maps applications creating a simplified search and bookmarking function.

Photosynth: now fully integrated into the maps so you can fly in from space straight into your next door neighbours lounge(!) (but only if they have created a synth of course).

Simultaneous Multiple Searches: perform multiple searches within one map to discover all you can (tweets, blogs articles, local businesses, imagery etc)about a location without leaving the map.

Local Search Integration: Bing Local Search fully integrated into Bing Maps (the opposite has been available for a while).

Simplified Navigation: The navigation buttons have been moved to the bottom of the page and you can select Automatic (based on user feedback), Road, Aerial or Bird’s Eye or Streetside (our new friend ‘Blue Man’) views.

Integrated 1-Click Directions: if you know where you’re trying to get to, search for the location and select directions to get there approaching from the north, south, east or west.

Route Query Parsing: if you are planning to drive from, for example, Seattle to San Diego just enter “Seattle to San Diego” in the search box and get point to point driving directions.

Auto-Location Detection: when you load Bing Maps in Silverlight the site will automatically detect where you are located and centre the map to show your current position.

Weather: weather information has been embedded into the maps allowing you to view the latest weather conditions at your current location (using the auto-location detection) or for the location you are searching for.

Images: Bing Image Search has been integrated into Bing Maps giving you instant access to images of the location you are searching for.

Defined Regions Query Parsing: search for a neighbourhood within a city, for example, “San Diego Gaslamp,” and the map will centre on that neighbourhood and highlight the area on the map.

For a full list and description of the new features read Chris Pendleton’s blog or if you would rather watch a demo click here.

The Earthware team has been eagerly awaiting this latest offering from Bing Maps. The enhanced functionality is set to make displaying and searching for location based information much more simple. We know the Bing Maps team have been working very hard to develop this and we congratulate them on what they have achieved.

If you are interested in creating a map using Silverlight (or any other mapping API) to display your information then please drop us a line at info@earthware.co.uk.

Earthware are delighted to have been invited by Gary McCausland (from BBC1’s “Axe the Agent” to do the web design, web development, interactive mapping and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) for his new venture Rovster.

Rovster allows a property owner who wants to “sell my house privately” to sign up and advertise online with a free property listing.  Whether you have flats to rent, property to rent or you want to buy a property in … or sell my house in …. then Rovster is seeking to debunk the property market.

We are delighted that not only did Gary decide to integrate Earthware interactive property mapping but also to use our sister, The Technology Studio to do the web design and development.

We wish Gary every success with Rovster!

The Earthware team

This year Earthware are taking part, for the first time, in the AGI conference’s new GeoWeb stream on September 23rd - 24th 2009. Our technical direction Brian Norman will be talking about the future of web based mapping in the travel and real estate markets at 11:15 on 24th. It’s presentation partially aimed at developers but if you have an interest in either of these markets please come along and join in.

This year is the first year the traditionally pure GIS focused conference has had a stream dedicated to nanogeography (the world of mashups) so it should be really interesting to see how GIS professionals, web developers and designers can come together during the conference to discuss the different aspects of our GeoWeb of the future.

If you’re coming along it would be great to meet up so please get in touch brian@earthware.co.uk or twitter.com/earthware.

To read more about the event or to book your ticket please visit http://www.agi.org.uk/

Google has never hidden the fact that whilst it is a company driven by innovation, it also needs to drive revenue and profit and the most prevalent route for this is has been through advertising (via pay per click). However, as Google now broadens its offerings, it appears to be taking advantage of other revenue streams.

A few months ago Google launched property search functionality through Google Maps in the US and Australia and this is soon to be followed by launches in the UK and other countries: view Google Maps with property listings in London, UK. Google also appears to be investigating geographically targeted advertising within its mapping. If you want more details please refer to the blog article by Tom Krazit.This begs a few questions:

1. How will property portals that currently use Google Maps react to Google Maps being a competitor? Examples include, PropertyFinder, Fish4Homes and Your-Move?

2. If you are an Estate Agent with Google as your default map, how would you feel if other competitor company’s adverts start appearing on the map in your site?

Until now, using Google Maps has been the default position as it has often been free to use (though there is some debate about the interpretation of the license agreement) but if adverts for your competitors start appearing on Google Maps or if Google have become your competition, will that persuade portals and estate agents to leave Google Maps and migrate over to other APIs such as Bing Maps, Multimap, MapQuest, OpenStreetMap etc.  Many of these do attract a license fee but in return they offer service levels and guarantee that no adverts will appear on the maps to mitigate against the cost.

It is also worth noting that Google has been very open about these developments and you can pay for a commercial license including support and no adverts and use this in your own site.

From our point of view, at Earthware, we try and stay agnostic and recommend the best mapping API for each client based on their needs and the merits of each mapping API. However, we suspect that the recent moves by Google are likely to shake up the market for property mapping and rather than default to using Google, estate agents and property websites are going to have to be much more deliberate about which mapping they use to advertise their properties online.

If you would like to talk to someone in the Earthware team about how this is likely to impact your business and what your options are then please drop us a line to enquiries@eartthware.co.uk or call +44 (0) 845 642 9880 and ask to speak to Lauren.

Neil Osmond

The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award programme is an annual award given to members of the technical community that show an outstanding contribution as they actively share their expertise with peers. There are over 100 million people participating in technical communities each year, yet only 3,500 are awarded the MVP status and this year Earthware’s Technical Director, Brian Norman, is one of them!

Brian has been named a Windows Live Platform MVP as a result of his activity in technical communities as he shared his passion for developing online applications that are rich in content and simple to use but that also give a real, tangible value to business rather than being the latest gimmick.

Having been nominated for the award, a panel of Microsoft employees and previous MVP’s assess the nominees technical expertise and voluntary contributions over the previous year to technical communities based on their quality, quantity and the impact they have had within the technical communities. MVP’s are not spokespeople for Microsoft or an employee, rather they are objective technical experts with an award from Microsoft that recognises their achievements and knowledge.

Brian regularly contributes to the Bing Maps MSDN forum, he writes on interactive mapping developments for Earthware and on technology solutions for The Technology Studio. You can also follow Brian’s actions on Twitter (@Earthware).

Well done Brian!

The Microsoft Bing Enterprise Mapping team approached Earthware two months ago, with an idea to communicate their monthly imagery releases to clients and partners in a more visually engaging format.

With each month’s imagery release potentially covering hundreds of updated locations worldwide the current system of publishing a simple list of all the locations was not demonstrating the full impact of each release. Microsoft was also keen to use their latest Bing Maps Silverlight control, to create a visually rich interactive mapping application which could be both a showcase for the monthly updates, and the possibilities that Silverlight and Bing maps can offer.

Microsoft were also keen to host the new application on the Windows Azure platform to show the flexibility of combining Azure services with the Bing Enterprise maps.

Why Earthware?

Earthware already had extensive experience with Bing maps and the new Silverlight control after taking part in the closed beta program in early 2009. As part of this Earthware produced a Twitter map demo application which Microsoft demoed as part of the Bing Maps Silverlight control’s release publicity. The Twitter demo also used the Azure platform.

What did we deliver?

• A visually rich mapping application using Microsoft’s Bing Maps Silverlight Control and hosted on the Windows Azure platform.
   
• A secure back office administration area to allow the Microsoft team to quickly, and easily, add and update monthly imagery release information.
   
• A back end database built upon the Windows Azure table storage service.
   
• The entire first release of the Bing Maps World Tour application was delivered in less than six weeks and in time for the challenging May 2009 imagery release deadline.
   

Try the finished Bing Maps World Tour application for yourself on the Bing Maps Website or read more about the application at the official Bing maps blog. You can also see the reaction of the developer community to the applications release on twitter.

If you are interested in Earthware helping you to create similar interactive animated mapping applications for your products please visit our interactive mapping consultancy page.