20 Terabytes Update Follows 69TB Refresh to Virtual Earth

Microsoft has released a new double digit Terabytes update to Virtual Earth expanding yet again the content available to end users. The Redmond company has made a tradition of introducing heavyweight updates to its mapping, imaging, location data visualization and search platform, and the June release is just the latest example in this regard. However, it barely compares to the update delivered in May to Virtual Earth, which reached almost 70 Terabytes in size. The June 2008 update comes at an interesting juncture for Microsoft, as the company has opened up Virtual Earth to third-parties with an emphasis on public sector organizations and governments, offering a free publishing service designed to permit the integration of aerial imagery into Virtual Earth.

"20TB of new imagery.... laughable compared to the 69TB+ from May's Virtual Earth Imagery Release; then again, when was the last time you transferred 20TB of data?" asked Chris Pendleton, Virtual Earth Technical Evangelist. The update contains Orthos (Microsoft UltraCam), Orthos (non-UltraCam), Satellite Orthos and Obliques (Bird's Eye).

"Don't see good photography in your city, county, state, or backyard? Submit your imagery to Microsoft Virtual Earth via the GoVE program and we'll publish it if it's better than what we have," Pendleton invited users. The imagery captured via UltraCamX and included in the update is focused entirely on the U.S. UltraCamX is a 216 mega-pixel large format digital aerial camera produced by Microsoft and used to capture aerial imagery.

The non-UltraCam content involves locations in Canada, France, U.S. and the U.K, while the Satellite Orthos covers cities across the world, with only the new Obliques (Bird's Eye) imagery available only for Europe. "We prefer data updates in larger chunks, since each update requires edge-matching to the existing online imagery," Pendleton added.