Virtual Earth

Guys, Virtual Earth is here!!

Dont know what that is ???

Then i suggest you first check out this link: Local Live

Its the next generation to Google Earth! Why ??

Here are some tips to Why I recommend Local Live:-

Unlike traditional online search engines, with Windows Live Local you can find information based on a specific location. You can search for both What (such as a specific business, a point-of-interest category like museums, or a type of store) and Where (such as a place name or an address), just What, or just Where. If you don’t specify a location, Windows Live Local filters your search results based on the current map view.

Search results are displayed in search results panels on the left side of your screen and as pushpins on the map. The title bar for each search results panel is the same color as the pushpins for those search results, so you can quickly see which pushpins belong to which search results list. By default, you’ll see up to 10 listings at a time in the search results panel. To see no more than five results at a time, change the setting in the Options panel.

Search results show up as pushpins on the map and in a search results panel on the left side of your screen. The color of the pushpins matches the color of the title bar of the corresponding Search Results Panel. The number of each pushpin matches the corresponding listing. For each listing, you can view a pop-up that contains abbreviated information and a printable details page that contains more in-depth information.

You can get driving directions from any point on the map to any other point on the map. The Start and End points can be street addresses or specific points. The route and directions are displayed in Windows Live Local, and you can e-mail them or print them out for offline use.

Bird’s Eye images provide a high-resolution, low-angle aerial view of a small area. Each image covers a specific area and has two zoom levels. Unlike the Aerial and Road map styles, Bird’s Eye images do not provide continuous coverage.

With Windows Live Local, you’re not limited to a basic road map. You can see the world from a variety of viewpoints. You can choose from the following map styles:

• Road map—A typical street map style that shows streets, highways, landmarks, and so on.

• Aerial photo (labels)—An aerial photo map that shows buildings and other geographic features as they are seen from space, but also includes labels for streets, highways, and landmarks. The default Aerial photo style includes labels.

• Aerial photo (no labels)—A standard aerial photo map without any of the labels—just as you would see the world from space.

• Bird’s Eye—A brand-new, low-angle, very high resolution view of locations all across the United States. Now you are no longer limited to seeing the tops of buildings—you can see the sides of buildings from up to four different directions!

Creating a Custom Pushpin

You can create custom pushpins in Windows Live Local to show specific locations. These pushpins are added to your Scratch Pad and you can share them with other people.

Use the Scratch Pad

You can use the Scratch Pad to save and share your search results, addresses, and custom pushpins that are most interesting to you.

Printing Routes and Directions

You can print your route and driving directions from within Windows Live Local by using the Print Options page. This page allows you to customize the amount of information to print. To open the Print Options page, first create a route. From the Directions pane, click print.

Create a Permalink

A permalink is a permanent URL that encapsulates the current state of your Virtual Earth browser window, including your map view, the map style, zoom level, open searches, and Scratch Pad contents. Creating a permalink is a great way to save and share your Windows Live Local experience.

You want an example:

Here is a birds eye view of the Statue of Liberty

Now isnt all that just too COOL!!

Then why are you still reading this post. GO ahead and explore the world, from your desktop!

PS.: Virtual Earth is presently limited to only US and Canada maps only. More areas are being added constantly and you can be seeing Asia and INDIA by 2007!