By all means, Virtual Earth is a work in progress. Illustrative of this are not only the constant multi-Terabytes imagery updates but also Virtual Earth 3D, which is still in Beta. Microsoft is still perfecting its three dimensional perspective via Virtual Earth, as Chris Pendleton, Virtual Earth Technical Evangelist revealed. For the 3D models in Virtual Earth, the Redmond company has turned to the 3DVia solution from Dassault Systems - a software that has not been without its problems.

"I haven't seen many models built out, but what I've seen have been okay - just okay. If you have some sweet models that you're proud of send the link to your collection. I had issues installing 3DVia to the point that 3DVia just rendered a black screen. My RAM had vanquished and I had to work in a subzero fridge so my CPU didn't catch my paltry video card aflame," Pendleton stated.

At this point in time, Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D has grown to an impressive collection of cities featuring 3D architectures following the integration of 3DVia. The solution was initially made available at the end of 2007. Taking into consideration the fact that Virtual Earth is considered first and foremost a platform, Microsoft aimed to deliver end users a way to add 3D models to the default content involving Bird's Eye and Aerial imagery. The final purpose is, of course, to catalyze the growth of Virtual Earth 3D with realistic visualization content.

"3DVia is a free download from Microsoft. You can get it on Live Search Maps when you click 3D in the navigation control (there's an option while you install the 3D plug-in); or, download it directly from the Virtual Earth-3DVia Download Page," Pendleton added.

The video embedded at the bottom of this article comes to illustrate what 3DVia can bring to Virtual Earth 3D. End users are of course free to add their own content to Virtual Earth by using the software. But since Virtual Earth 3D is still in Beta mode, they should also expect to run at least into minor issues.


Video: Collection de modèles 3D dans Virtual Earth