Streetside – the Microsoft version for Google Street View

After Google offered their users the possibility to use the Maps application Microsoft launched a similar application known as Bing Maps (it has also been called Live Search Maps or Windows Live Maps). Google started 2007 by implementing a new online service of viewing streets (360°) called Street View. If at the beginning only boulevards and roads from the United States were available for viewing, once the end of 2008 came, Google extended the program worldwide.

As expected Microsoft had a reaction and recently launched Streeside. It wants to be a serious competitor to Street View. Like in many other cases Microsoft reports a delay compared to Google or other producers, but this can sometimes have its advantages. Considering the problems the giant from California is facing due to privacy trespass it is easy to understand that Microsoft will try to avoid such problems. In order to do this Microsoft promised to collect a minimum volume of information and no info about the available wireless networks in town.

The company based in Redmond has a problem to solve that is basically the same as the one Google had:  in what measure can people refuse the inclusion of their personal home or other properties to this service? Many people (especially in Germany) complained that they could not remove certain locations from Street View. At the pressures of the Government and considering actions taken against Google, Microsoft will offer German citizens the option to erase their property from Streetside.

Microsoft Streetside only works with 56 US cities for now

Microsoft Streetside is already available in 56 cities on US territory and in the near future the cars with GPS, lasers and camera will also come to Europe. In a first stage Microsoft plans to only follow large urban areas and locations of interest. After this step the cars will also take photos of other streets. The costs of such a process are very high, and so is the quantity of data that needs to be processed.

Microsoft cars come with a camera with 6 lenses, a GPS and a laser. In order to obtain the final 360 degrees panorama 6 individual photos are used, and special software that recognizes similarities unites the 2048 x 2048 pixel photos and handles differences in color and brightness. The GPS offers data about the geographical coordinates, and the laser gathers accurate measurement data.

Streetside from Microsoft looks a lot like Google Street View

Because I was already used to Google Street View, I wanted to use Microsoft Streetside to see the differences. You cannot see any images unless you install Microsoft Silverlight. I installed it and managed to see the images of streets in main cities from the US. I do not know if they are higher in quality than images in Google Street View, but I am sure that the display options and experience is pretty much similar.

New York photo in full screen mode

Instead of conclusions

Unfortunately Microsoft Streetside still has a reduced cover limited to 56 cities in the US. I hope that soon we will be able to view images from all over the world. To access Microsoft Streetside go to www.microsoft.com.

Here’s Microsoft Streetside at work in an official video: