[Ottawade]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but maps.live.com (Mircosoft's answer to google maps) has launched 9 3D cities for viewing. As a person who works with realtime databases of cities on a semi-regular basis I have to say these are mighty impressive for something that goes over the web. On many streets it goes right down to modeling every single house.

Just go to maps.live.com (in IE only atm) click 3D from the left toolbox and install the plug in. You should be able to now view the select cities in 3D. It takes some time to load and it loads based on proximity so its a good idea to slowly fly around where your looking stopping in places that haven't loaded yet for 20-30 seconds. After flying around the whole city this way its really impressive with pretty high res building textures and nice shading.

Here is the press release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/may07/05-28NYC3DMA.mspx

These are the current cities (Edit: apparently there are many more cities, especially in the US, these are just some of the showcase ones):

NYC
Austin, Texas
Cape Coral, Fla.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Indianapolis, Ind., including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Northampton, England
Ottawa
Savannah, Ga.
Tampa, Fla.

And last but not least a few screens from it running on my PC of Ottawa (where I live) and NYC. It's pretty cool seeing your apartment/condo in 3D!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/252/520003994_79687c0caf_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/520003972_a4d7fd517e_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/241/520003982_751e3c4771_b.jpg

[ColDayMan]

Wow

[DaveofCali]

Heh, you beat me to the punch, I was going to make a post on this.

However, its NOT just those cities you mentioned.

Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, etc... are also 3D modeled, as well as Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Houston.

[Ottawade]

Yep, only later did I realize there are many more cities...

[rs913]

I've had this site bookmarked for a little while now. The interface is a little weird, but the maps are awesome. Goes way beyond basic satellite images.

[city dweller]

That second shot almost looks completely real...impressive. I hope Sim City eventually looks this realistic. I've been waiting to see what the 3D Windows Live looks like for quite some time. I have a Mac, and although I can get Windows Maps to work, I can't get the 3D to install (even with FireFox). Appreciate the views. :tup:

[M. Brown]

Awesome find!

[waterloowarrior]

the birds-eye imagery for London is awesome!