Microsoft Brings "Streetside" View To Mapping, Search

Microsoft is taking search to the street.
At noon PDT on Tuesday, Microsoft will unveil a preview version of its Windows Live Local Technology, which will allow users to view a "street-side" perspective of local neighborhoods.

ADVERTISEMENT Microsoft's preview site is but one of several technology demonstrations Microsoft is expected to reveal in the next two days, capping off the week with a technical description of its Origami project. (A version of Windows Local Live without the streetside techology is here.)



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The "street-side" technology, according to Microsoft, will be used for its upcoming consumer local search and mapping site, according to a note sent to reporters Monday evening. "As an additional navigational tool, the street-side feature offers a vantage point similar to driving behind the wheel of a car for a close-up, street-level view," the company said.


Only two neighborhoods will be supported in the technology's initial release: the downtown "cores" of Seattle and San Francisco, as a way to provoke feedback from users. The street-side view will supplement aerial, road and bird's eye views currently available in Windows Live Local, the company said.

The technology is being supplied by Facet Technology Corp., whose SightMap technology has already compiled 700 million high-resolution images -- a total of 200 terabytes of data -- of geomapped images.

Facet SightMap vans roam the country, snapping front-view and side-vide images of various streets at 8-meter distances, according to the company. In total, over 516,000 miles have been photo-mapped. Facet's coverage map indicates that the company has indexed dozens of metropolitan areas around the United States, and the company plans to also cover several "high-volume roads" as well.

"We've been doing mapping with sophisticated vehicles for a number of years – we have vehicles with high-resolution digital cameras on board, and we drive roadways and collect imagery," said Jamie Retterath, president of Facet Technology, in an interview. "A lot of the stuff we've done over the past few years, like creating precise maps, etc., has been for the U.S. Census Bureau."

The startup was founded in 1998 and has assembled a number of patents covering graphical search applications, similar to the direction Microsoft is taking, Retterath said.

"What Microsoft liked about us was that we'd done a lot of image collection," Retterath added. "They also liked the precision of our system – we can make very precise maps and image location from that – we also have a very long list of patents that we've acquired over the years that deal with efficient processing of that imagery and turning it into meaningful content."

Each Facet "Mobile360" van contains between four to seven digital cameras, which are tied into a GPS system. A four-camera vehicle captures information simultaneously with all four cameras providing a front driver's view, right and left views and a backwards-facing view. The seven-camera vans provide "enhanced visual information," according to Facet, for use in crowded urban areas.

The onboard guidance system uses third-party technology like that used by cruise missiles as they make their way across the landscape, Retterath said.

"We bring the imagery from our vehicles back in-house and then we review it for spatial accuracy, for clarity and to make sure that we've captured everything within a collection zone," Retterath said.

"Our automation tools will be utilized, so if we're doing mapping, for example, it will create precise maps of the roadways -- if we're doing asset management, where trying to find road signs in imagery, we have software to do that – if we're utilizing imagery to find 3D models, we have patented tools that can do that with imagery," Retterath added.

In the future, Facet hopes to overlay turn-by-turn information onto an actual snapshot of the intersection inside GPS systems, so that users can view actal landmarks as well as abstract directions on where to turn, the company said. The technology can also be used to improve the efficiency of logistics, such as parcel delivery.

"What Microsoft is announcing today is only a small portion of what they have planned in the future - they have big plans and we're out there aggressively collecting the imagery," Retterath said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 9:14 AM with comments from Facet's Retterath.



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