Microsoft takes on Google Street View with GeoSynth
Is anyone capable of taking on the might of Google? Microsoft would seem to be the most obvious contender but its latest venture, trying to compete with Street View, could be a lost cause before it even launches.
Google Street View has been a revelation since it launched two years ago in the United States. Since then it has been rolled out to other countries around the world, with the UK and the Netherlands the two most recent additions.
For those totally ignorant about what Google Street View is or does, it is a feature of Google Maps which, as the name suggests, allows users the chance to zoom into a location and see it from street level. And now Microsoft seems to want to try something similar, although rather than using camera cars to take 360 degree photographs of locations, user generated content will be used instead.
According to Pocket-lint, the technology is to be called GeoSynth and will couple the Virtual Earth mapping service with Microsoft’s PhotoSynth technology. Users will be able to upload images to a central database which would then be compiled into groups using geotagging.
Johannes Kebeck, a Virtual Earth technology specialist at Microsoft EMEA explained:
“The system would take the best images from a location to create a single image of a specific landmark very much in the same way Microsoft did with the Obama Inauguration.”
Kebeck is referring to how Microsoft created a 3D representation of the moment Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. This was done by piecing together thousands of photos taken by members of the vast crowd from different vantage points on that auspicious occasion back in January.
Microsoft is banking on its Silverlight technology to help the whole process work quickly and in a user-friendly way. While PhotoSynth can already be used in conjunction with Virtual Earth, pairing the two up properly and making the most of Silverlight could see GeoSynth become a rival to Google Street View.
This sounds exciting, and could, in some ways, be better than Street View. While the Google app only takes shots of roads from all angles, GeoSynth would offer a much more extensive viewing vista than Street View. That is, of course, assuming the UGC is there to support the idea. Which there’s no guarantee of.
A beta version of the new service is expected by the end of the year.
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