Google and Microsoft are in a big virtual-city arms race. Each is adding electronic recreations of top U.S. metropolitan areas to its Web-mapping services.
I happen to prefer Microsoft's Virtual Earth, part of its Live Search Maps service. Microsoft's approach includes angled aerial photographs shot from low-flying planes, along with (this is the kicker) computer-recreated cityscapes you can navigate like a video game.
You can even plug an Xbox 360 controller into your PC to buzz buildings in downtown St. Paul -- This is very, very cool.
Google does something similar called Street View, which lets visitors traverse a city's neighborhoods with mouse clicks, essentially navigating urban landscapes that continually morph and shift to simulate a regular car trip.
That's pretty cool, too, but it wasn't available in the Twin Cities -- until this week. The local version of Street View is scheduled to go live tomorrow morning. (See above and below for examples of what St. Paul Street Views should look like.)
My Tuesday piece on this, which is due to appear on the front page of tomorrow's Pioneer Press, also mentions a Massachussetts company called EveryScape that tries to one-up Google with interior as well as exterior cityscapes.
Hey, that's kinda cool, too.
