Sky-High Search Wars
Microsoft, Google Vie to Offer
Best Aerial Views of Earth;
Pinpointing a City's Pizzerias
The battle over Internet search is moving to the skies.
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates yesterday showed off his company's latest bid to better compete with Google Inc. -- a Web service starting later this year that uses aerial photography and satellite images to pinpoint places on the earth.
The project, dubbed Virtual Earth, will combine search results of a local area with mapping software and detailed aerial images that could allow Internet users to zoom into pictures of city streets and see shops, restaurants and other locations. The software maker said it signed an agreement with Pictometry International Corp., a Rochester, N.Y., start-up with a fleet of small planes, to record the aerial shots that will form the backbone of the service.
Virtual Earth, which will be run by Microsoft's MSN unit, is part of a broader push by Internet companies to use aerial images and other graphical elements to more accurately recreate on the Internet how people might look for things in the real world. Mr. Gates, speaking at a Wall Street Journal conference in Carlsbad, Calif., said he expects Microsoft's service to lift map-based searching to "a whole new level." But he acknowledged, "There's going to be a lot of competition in the mapping area."
Microsoft's Virtual Earth can show buildings at a 45-degree angle from the earth, as in the view of San Francisco
Google, for example, earlier this year began letting consumers view satellite and aerial-photography images through its free Maps service and last week showed a coming product upgrade with even more detailed images and extensive new features. In January, Amazon.com Inc. rolled out Block View, a feature that shows photos of storefronts alongside local search results that give the impression of walking up and down streets.
Despite obstacles that include privacy concerns, the companies believe they can use the new technology to help tap into a pool of advertising dollars spent by local businesses. The work is still in its early stages but to be an effective tool for both consumers and advertisers, the maps and images need to be combined with a mass of detailed local information so that searches produce relevant results.
Indeed, MapQuest, a mapping service of Time Warner Inc.'s America Online unit, offered satellite images several years ago but discontinued the feature because "usage of it just dropped" over time, says AOL spokesman Brian Hoyt. (Mr. Hoyt says MapQuest is considering reinstating the images as consumer interest has been stoked by the addition of the feature by rivals.)
"We're only at the beginning of what online mapping and local search will become," says Greg Sterling, an analyst at Kelsey Group, a Princeton, N.J., research and consulting firm. He adds: "A combined local search and mapping tool could entirely replace the traditional search engine in some situations for people."
Microsoft's service also provides street maps overlaid on satellite maps.
Hence the sky race. Mr. Gates's demonstration followed Google's showing last week of a coming version of its satellite-mapping and local-search product called Google Earth. The service, an update to an existing service which has a price starting at $30 per year, uses data about the terrain of the earth obtained from space to simulate three-dimensional images of locations.
Google has a separate free search and mapping search called Google Maps, which shares some of the same functions and does not currently carry advertising. The company has not yet disclosed pricing for its new Google Earth, which will require a user to run special software on his computer -- leaving open the possibility that there might be a free version. Both services pinpoint local businesses on maps for users.
At a demonstration last week, Google co-founder Sergey Brin conducted a virtual fly-through of the Grand Canyon, showing Superman-style views of swooping over the floor of the canyon. "I've never been to the Grand Canyon before," Mr. Brin deadpanned. "Now I don't need to go."
Local search now usually combines basic Yellow Pages information and information from the Web with mapping software so that results of a search for pizza places in San Francisco, for example, will return a map showing markers of where the restaurants are located.
Earlier this year, Google added satellite imagery to its free service that combines mapping and local search. In October the Mountain View, Calif., company bought Keyhole Inc., which creates digital maps from satellite data and aerial photos. Keyhole is the basis for the fee-based service that Google Earth will replace, which requires Internet users to download software to view the images, and the satellite mapping in Google Maps. John Hanke, general manager of Keyhole, says the company expects to eventually have storefront photos like those Amazon.com's search unit displays.
Aerial shot of Hong Kong is from Google Earth.
Microsoft executives hope to differentiate their service through an exclusive contract with Pictometry, which uses cameras mounted on light aircraft to collect images from U.S. skies. The Pictometry images can show buildings at a 45-degree angle from the earth, allowing them to record details of the buildings such as store names, according to Stephen Lawler , the Microsoft general manager in charge of the Virtual Earth project. The Pictometry images are now mostly used by law enforcement and government organizations.
A version of the service coming this summer is expected to include the ability to display the results of multiple searches on a map that's overlaid on a satellite image. A search, for instance, for dry cleaners in a given area would display all the cleaners on the satellite image.
This fall, Mr. Lawler says, Microsoft should have about 15 U.S. cities covered by the higher-fidelity 45-degree images from Pictometry.
Some consumers could worry about making it so easy to see aerial images of their homes and workplaces using their addresses. The search companies point out that the images are taken periodically; they are not real-time pictures of what's happening at their homes when a Web surfer calls up the picture.
Microsoft's Mr. Lawler says the company may use software to help obscure sensitive information from images. Mr. Hanke, of Google, notes that similar images have been publicly available for years through different sources and that the level of detail prevents Google Maps users from seeing individual people.
While the technology is cutting-edge, the results can contain glitches. Google Maps recently turned up Google's headquarters as a result when someone searched using the keywords "Osama Ben Laden" and "Mountain View, Calif."
"There are always tradeoffs when you do something that's more powerful," says Mr. Hanke.
And while aerial mapping technology can "ignite the consumer," says Perry Evans, director of Local Matters Inc. and founder of MapQuest, "the real game to me is the content and applications on top of the maps."
That's why over the next year the race will likely shift to trying to attract a mass of people to contribute their knowledge of local places to the new services. Mr. Lawler says that Microsoft sees the first iteration of that as a short of "enhanced Yellow Pages," in which a search for a particular restaurant, for instance, could not only list directions to get there but also have food recommendations written by regular customers.
微软将在搜索服务中使用卫星图片
微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)董事长比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)表示，今年晚些时候公司将推出网络搜索服务新功能，届时将利用航空照片和卫星影像为那些在网上搜索信息和位置的用户提供更好的服务。
在《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)周一举办的一次会议上，盖茨及其他微软管理人士称，该项服务将结合对本地某一地区的搜索结果、制图软件及详细的航空照片，让互联网用户能够对城市街道照片进行放大，找到商店、餐馆等的具体位置。微软表示，公司已经和拥有一批小型飞机的纽约初创公司Pictrometry International Corp.签订了一份协议，将合作拍摄一些航拍照片，用作上述新服务的基本资料来源。
这项名为Virtual Earth的服务由微软的MSN在线部门负责，并将在今年夏季开始推出。
目前许多公司都试图在搜索服务中添加更多的图片信息，使搜索结果更图形化。今年年初，Google在其免费的搜索服务中添加了卫星影像，将图像与本地搜索结合在一起。去年10月份，Google还收购了一家利用卫星数据制作数字地图的小型公司Keyhole Inc.。
微软管理人士表示，他们希望通过与Pictometry签署一项独享协议，让这项功能有别于其他公司的搜索服务。Pictometry利用架设在轻型飞机上的照相机从空中拍摄照片。据负责Virtual Earth项目的微软总经理Stephen Lawler称，Pictometry的照片能以45度视角显示建筑物，这样就能记录包括商店名称在内的众多建筑物信息。Pictometry的照片目前多为执法部门以及其他政府组织使用。
今年夏天推出的搜索服务将包括一项功能，能将搜索结果重叠显示在一张覆盖在卫星照片上的地图上。比如，如果在特定地区搜索比萨店和乾洗店，那么在卫星地图上就会显示出所有的比萨店和乾洗店。Lawler称，到今年秋季，Pictometry将能够提供约15个美国城市的街道及建筑物45度角高清晰度照片。
在此次会议上，盖茨还介绍了一个名为Start.com的网站，让网络用户可以整理他们的搜索，并根据用户的兴趣和偏好自动更新信息。
