Ramsey Beach - microsoft live search maps

newms · Post by **newms** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:13 pm

I was killing some time this afternoon playing microsoft live search maps and came across this:

http://maps.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.rhfz ... &encType=1

zoom in to street level and then select bird's eye view.

thewavebb · Post by **thewavebb** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:39 pm

Thats hot.... anybody recognize themselves? Is that a pretty recent shot? Or is it from last fall. This past spring we had much lower water levels if my memory serves me right.

ice_kmauve · Post by **ice_kmauve** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:34 pm

I'm thinking it's summer/fall 2006, by the looks of the trees. I believe the kiter on the lower left is Tighe with the 12m TD and the yellow sx 151.
What a strange vantage point to look at that beach from..

RandyL · Post by **RandyL** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:24 pm

It looks like my red truck in the parking lot and maybe my TD16 toward the boat launch.

RandyL · Post by **RandyL** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:49 pm

Its not me or my red truck. This photo was shot in the fall of 2005, I can tell by my dock configuration.

Tom L · Post by **Tom L** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:13 pm

Live search is a pretty neat gadget. That kind of detail is only available in bigger markets. It's amazing. I recognise the persons car sitting in my Dad's driveway on the day the photo was taken. Anyone know how MS is accomplishing this? They appear to be taken from a helicopetr but I believe that would be too costly.

You can research kite launches with that tool. It's a shame it doesn't work everywhere. No coverage at Milly, or Wacky, but Tonka is covered.

http://www.pictometry.com - images are taken by light aircraft

ice_kmauve · Post by **ice_kmauve** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:37 pm

I don't know Randy. Those sure look like 06 TD's.

RandyL · Post by **RandyL** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 7:47 am

Did the 06TD come out in the fall of 05? Or maybe they updated that part of the larger photo; you can see the different updates in the satellite view from a distance. I'm just guessing 05 because my dock only shows one boat lift and I had two in the spring of 06, but they definitely look like 06TD's

Tighe · Post by **Tighe** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:30 am

like all other microsoft crap, that site won't work for me. Maybe they want me to buy their Vista.ha ha. The giant is falling.

If someone sends me a screen capture as a jpg, I might be able to carbon half life the Slingshot kites in question and give accurate dating.

I got my TD which I thihk was one of the first in the area around Dec 05. Don't think anyone rode the water with TD's till 06.

Chris B · Post by **Chris B** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:37 am

I don’t know Tighe, Apple is acting a lot more like the big giant lately.

Mike W · Post by **Mike W** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:41 am

I remember that day. Tighe is on the 12 TD. I was flying his 17 Fuel nearest the beach. Stroh was on his 20 Gaastra. That is all I can recall. Cool shot! I was waiting for my 16TD, so it must have been the spring of 06'. I was supposed to be riding Tighe's 17.5 Machine, but Chris would not give it up. I settled for the Fuel.

Tighe · Post by **Tighe** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:45 am

It'd be a much better word if there was more Apple in it. Can you imagine how cool an ihouse would be? or an ivan, or an itram, or an ishuttle, or an ibabe. As an interface designer I appreciate that they are one of the few companies that start with the human end of the user experience. Pretty much every other company starts with the technology and then tries to make it more accessible.

Tom L · Post by **Tom L** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:45 am

Apple has been so successful, they may become the hated Goliath, that Micrsoft is. You can see the rumbling of discontent already.

Tom L · Post by **Tom L** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:46 am

ikite ......you's have to have it Tighe......

steveb · Post by **steveb** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:11 pm

I don't know how the aerial stuffs being done. Ground level 3 d is being done buy companies with 3 d cameras set up on trucks, they drive around photographing the streets in 3d then send the data to MS. Our local companies called Facet Engineering. They have a small fleet of the trucks loaded with the cameras that have been working for years getting the data.

ice_kmauve · Post by **ice_kmauve** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:52 pm

it won't be long before people will be trying to hack those pictures by putting up ludicrous visual spectacles while the poor cessna pilot is doing is straight-line runs across the countryside.

tighe-- have you tried installing firefox on the apple? does such a thing exist? if it does that might work with the live earth thing.

Tighe · Post by **Tighe** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 7:37 pm

Tried Firefox...nope

Tried IE, and the damn thing crashed and locked up my machine. Which is very very hard to do on OSX.

I'll drive out to White Bear and get the real thing.

Tom L · Post by **Tom L** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 8:18 pm

Tighe if you have Leopard can't you just just run Bootcamp?

Here is a website that might have a solution if you ever need more access to the dark side. I used to run all Macs when I was a pro photographer, and had to use PC emulators for some odd projects which were slow as molasses at that time. Bootcamp is supposed to work pretty well.

http://www.macwindows.com/

EDIT: I guess that's not a great idea either, I forgot.....you'd have to install a copy of WINXP OS too.

Kevinousdigian · Post by **Kevinousdigian** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:22 pm

Those are cool shots. I'm surprised no one mentioned accolades for google. From my perspective they are on the leading edge of these software innovations like the advanced maps with traffic/pictures... (and there $640/share price reflects that).

Also Apple isn't the only company starting with the user's perspective - they just know how to optimize the media hype for their work. The phone I got from HTC (Cingular/ATT 8525) does about everything and a lot more than the iphone and it was out sooner. I'd much rather us my phone as a communicator (ie email, ...) than the iphone due to the real keyboard.
Microsoft's user centered design has improved a lot from where it was 10-15 yrs ago although I know there is still a lot of room for improvment.
Many other companies start with the user needs/reqs including some local medical device makers (ie Medtronic..).

Kevin