News Blog

Read all 'satellite photos' posts in News Blog
March 6, 2006 6:12 PM PST

Microsoft lets people drive in online map

by Elinor Mills
  • Post a comment

In what looks like a newfangled video racing game, Microsoft is previewing new technology in Windows Live Local that shows a street-level view from a driver's perspective and includes an interactive element that lets a user "drive" down the street using a keyboard's Up and Down arrows.

On the bottom half of the screen, a cartoon car navigates the city streets in a view that combines an aerial satellite map and a road map with street names. Users can change the border of the driver's window to "race car" or "sports car," or they can switch to a walking view. For now, a limited number of city streets are covered in downtown San Francisco and Seattle.

The street-level photos are reminiscent of Amazon's A9.com maps site, which shows photos of both sides of a street.

  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

15 sites that went kaput in 2009

Web sites launch all the time, but they also shut their doors. We highlight 15 that bit the dust this year.

Top 10 news stories of the decade

Let the debate begin: Was the iPhone more important than iTunes? Was anything bigger than Google finding a great business model? CNET offers its list of the 10 most important stories of the '00s.

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader



advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right