Multimap :: Blog

When Matthew announced that we now have Bird’s Eye images in Australia, courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth, I messaged him afterwards and said “do you think most users actually know what Bird’s Eye is? They might get the wrong idea…” (we haven’t sent the Captain to sell Turkey Twizzlers in Oz for example). Little did I know he would challenge me to try to explain what it’s all about to you all, so here goes…

Back in 2000 we added Aerial imagery to our maps, a revolutionary feature that allowed users to view the world from a completely different perspective. Sometimes referred to as “orthorectified imagery”, aerial images are taken from commercial satellites and, for the most detailed images, from aircraft with very high resolution cameras pointing straight down. Images are examined for defects such as cloud cover, colour balanced and then carefully aligned with reference points on the ground to produce a seamless set of images. Multimap uses Aerial images from many suppliers, all around the world.

As you can see from this picture of Norwich Cathedral, our aerial images provide a fabulous level of detail, and are easy to navigate especially when road labels are also switched on

In 2005, Microsoft took this a step further and launched Bird’s Eye imagery in 2005 on Live Search Maps. Bird’s Eye images are unique in that they are taken from low-flying aircraft with 4 high resolution cameras facing north, south, east and west. This means that, in addition to the top down view, you can view buildings at a 45 degree angle from 4 directions.

So if we go back to Norwich Cathedral, but this time in Bird’s Eye mode, we can see it from a unique perspective, and get a real feeling for the shape of the building, as well as the detail.

If you are interested in how this imagery is captured, have a look at this 3 minute video from five’s “Gadget Show”.

The Virtual Earth team are hard at work processing multi-terabytes of this data received from local suppliers, increasing the coverage, especially here in the UK. Last month saw a massive update, with new Bird’s Eye images in places such as Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Chris Pendletons blog has lots more information, or just visit Multimap.com and see if the Birds Eye map button is available in your area.

So I leave it to you, go have fun and explore.