Google Apps Hacks

313  - BEYOND GOOGLE: THE YAHOO! MAPS WEB SERVICE, LIVE MAPS AND MORE

HaCK

# 128

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Microsoft Live Search Maps

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Microsoft’s maps service, located at http://maps.live.com, is part of the Live.com search engine

initiative. As with the other services, the map as pictured in Figure 11-49 is zoomable (with the

mouse wheel, for instance) and draggable. However, note that—starting centered on the United

States—you will hit an invisible wall when moving westward; to move the map to China, for example,

make sure that you are dragging rightward to the east.

Microsoft Live Maps also offers a feature reminiscent of Google’s placemarks. Called “pushpins,”

these can be found at Collections→”Add a pushpin” at the top right web app menu.

A special gimmick in Live Maps is the “Bird’s eye” button on top. In most locations, it will be

“ghosted” and can’t be clicked. Zoom closer into some major areas like New York or San Francisco,

however, and it becomes clickable. Once clicked, it will offer a detailed and vivid 3D perspective, as

shown in Figure 11-50. The view is xed to be isometric, but can be rotated in steps of 90 degrees

using the lefthand rotation icons. To nd a list of bird’s-eye-enabled cities, point your browser to

http://blogoscoped.com/googleappshacks/link/bird.

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Microsoft’s bird’s-eye view of New York