Virtual Earth 3D, an update to Microsoft's Web-based mapping platform, has enabled the company to add photorealistic 3D images of cities and landscapes to its free Live Local mapping site. To earn money from the new feature, Microsoft will offer advertising, such as floating billboards, within these virtual environments. However, the 3D maps require significant computing resources and currently work only with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

Integrated into Free Web Site

Virtual Earth is the brand name for the back-end platform that powers Microsoft's Live Local mapping site. Launched in Nov. 2006, Virtual Earth 3D incorporates data from a variety of sources, including photographic images gained in Microsoft's May 2006 acquisition of Vexcel. The 3D user experience on Live Local is similar to that offered by Google Earth, which has been in beta since June 2005—users can adjust their height and viewing direction and "fly" through virtual landscapes with the mouse or simple keyboard commands, although Virtual Earth 3D offers significantly more detail, particularly better building exteriors.

Unlike Google Earth, which is a stand-alone application, users merely have to download and install an ActiveX control for Virtual Earth 3D; they can then access 3D maps on the free Live Local Web site using IE 6 or 7. (Alternate browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, do not work with Virtual Earth 3D because these browsers don't support ActiveX controls.) Because of this integration, the 3D maps can show the same data available in earlier 2D versions of Live Local, such as real-time traffic information or user-generated collections of locations (e.g., a user's favorite coffee shops in Seattle).

The two competing products also have different business models: Google gives away a free version of Google Earth in hopes of convincing users to upgrade to the US$20 Plus or US$400 Professional Editions, while Microsoft hopes to make money by selling advertisements, such as billboards, within the virtual environments provided by Virtual Earth 3D.

Although the maps offered by Virtual Earth 3D are attractive and detailed, rendering them requires significant computing resources. In one test, for example, navigating through 3D maps of Seattle caused the iexplore.exe process (representing IE7) to use at least 300MB of memory—about 10 times the amount normally required by IE7—for several minutes. These significant hardware requirements, combined with the lack of cross-browser support, could limit the initial audience for Virtual Earth 3D.

Live Local, including the link to download the Virtual Earth 3D control, is available at local.live.com.