Virtual Earth 3D Launches

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Local Live updated - Virtual Earth Version 4



Microsoft uses aerial cameras that take photos of cities and render the images into Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D, announced on Monday, allows advertisers to buy banner ads that float above buildings in photorealistic environments. The application, which downloads into a browser, melds together Virtual Earth's 3D features and Microsoft map and local search. In this screen shot, Zip Realty ads appear on virtual billboards

3D graphics for the new Virtual Earth 3D application, which downloads into a browser. The rendering creates photorealistic scenes featuring buildings, roadways and bodies of water.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D melds together photorealistic cityscapes with its existing online mapping services, such as traffic reports shows color-coded freeways in Los Angeles indicating which roadways are congested and which are clear.

Microsoft's new Virtual Earth 3D online mapping interface allows people to "fly" through cities much as they would in virtual reality scenes and online games, with graphics that are as realistically rendered.

Three-dimensional models are available initially for 15 U.S. cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and Fort Worth. Terrain imagery in 3-D is available globally, and Microsoft expects to offer 3-D imagery in an ever expanding set of cities. Other features provided by Live Search include access to real-time traffic information in select major U.S. cities, and access to business listings "yellow pages" and people listings "white pages" that allows consumers to easily find local information and act on it.

Update:
IE6 & IE7 only
to view 3D you need this plugin (but who wants to install another plugin?)
Mircosoft Servers are having serious issues at the moment (surprise, surprise).
Looks good when works!
Mapperz