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Giants Battle for Domination of the Virtual Map World

Microsoft has recently released its newest version of Virtual Earth, a program designed to allow internet users around the world view any point in the world from the comfort of their PC. The program comes complete with advanced 3D photo-imagery layered over street maps thus allowing users to not only plan a route online but actually see what the route looks like in 3D.

The virtual reality the program generates is quite magnificent. The 3D photo-imagery is far better then that provided by Microsoft`s main competitor in the field ? Google. Google provides two different programs Google Earth, which allows you to view satellite images of virtually every point on the planet, and Google Maps, which allows you to plan a route and study city streets.

Microsoft isn`t wasting time looking for ways to generate income from their newest product, "The first 15 cities shown in their full three-dimensional glory are peppered with billboards." In the future the company plans to allow Ecommerce from the platform and thus increase the products profitability. Yet Microsoft has a long way to go, only 15 cities are properly loaded into the system so that many more citys are in queue to be added. It is also expected that Google come out with a newer version of Google Earth to compete with Microsoft`s program so that the war on mapping earth has just begun.