TechAgility

While I was at the local MS TechEd event some while back I went and had a chat to the folks manning the Bing Search booth and this also deals with the info regarding Live Earth and mapping etc, and the up shot of this chat was they they forwarded this info as a follow up – of particular note was the Air Services noise monitoring which is awesome in the detail it displays regarding flights in and out of Sydney Airport.

Here below I can see that the forecasted cool change is nearly here as the Northerly wind has clearly swung around to the West as we now have incoming commercial jets from the East, the first one is a Jetstar A320 from Hobart on short finals closely followed by a Qantas Boeing 737 400 series from Brisbane. The main excercise of this is that you can nominate where your house is located and then if you feel that the flight is too noisy you can pinpoint it and send in a note?

1. Technical

There is a developer comparison paper that highlights the various mapping features and benefits, and importantly the differences between the web services and APIs. This document can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/maps/developers/.
There are two interactive SDKs, the AJAX version at http://www.microsoft.com/maps/isdk/ajax/ and the new Silverlight Map Control at http://connect.microsoft.com/silverlightmapcontrolctp.
To start developing with Bing Maps, visit here to obtain a free evaluation account https://mappoint-css.live.com/MwsSignUp/Default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0 .

2. Supporting technologies (web links are embedded within each)

Mapcruncher – a Microsoft research tool that allows you to render your own picture files (schematics, floor plans etc) atop a Virtual Earth map.
SQL server 2008 with new Spatial Engine enabling Business Intelligence to be transformed to Location Intelligence.
Photosynth – stitches together a large collection of photos transforming in to a unique viewing experience.
VE Server –is an on-premises, integrated set of visualisation, search and analysis capabilities that delivers maps, imagery and geospatial analysis through a web browser behind your firewall, onto private or classified networks, and onto portable platforms.

3. Bing Maps example sites (some require Silverlight)

ABS data -  Demographic data mashup
Sentinel & Country Fire Authority data – Australian Bushfire locator
Imagery of Brisbane city from 1958 to 2008 – Imagery from 1958 to 2008
US data mashup including Swine Flu RSS, demographic data etc (zoom in to Florida for the best experience)  – IDV Solutions
Traffic cameras embedded within Bing Maps from Soul Solutions (local partner) http://tc.soulsolutions.com.au/ and http://soulsolutions.com.au .
Noise monitoring service for Australian airports – Air Services noise monitoring

4. Content

Aerial imagery and road data is critical to any mapping platform. Microsoft continues to upgrade our aerial imagery available globally and specifically we have deployed to over 100 areas within regional Australia and NZ in the last few months. We also provide optional and exclusive access to Birdseye imagery and have extensive coverage for Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, Canberra, Gold Coast and Wollongong with more to come. See http://bing.com/maps/?mkt=en-us and click on the location search tab and enter “Sydney, AU” and zoom in and you will see the Birdseye tab enabled. Click on that tab to bring up the Birdseye imagery.

written by dcaddick