Microsoft Virtual Earth offers 3D building capability
Microsoft and Dassault Systemes have released a 3D building application for the Virtual Earth mapping program, the companies said Friday.
(Credit:
Microsoft/Dassault Systemes)
Virtual Earth-3DVIA will let people create 3D structures with textures and colors and share them with one other online. The models can also be tagged with real-life addresses or town information so that they can be viewed in Virtual Earth as they would be on a map.
The application is being released as a "technology preview," according to the companies, in order for them to get feedback for its next release.
The program could be a rival to Google Earth's 3D Warehouse, which was released in January and was recently opened to Multiverse Networks users. That partnership lets people use 3D objects from 3D Warehouse to create virtual worlds.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
Might want to start tagging things with "PLM".
http://www.earthware.co.uk/blog/?p=24
Brian Norman
www.earthware.co.uk