We were all simply amazed at the birds eye view portion of Virtual Earth (I’ve not been a fan of the implementation since day one). That said, it has grown on me so I’ve learned to deal with the grid navigation. Well tonight Microsoft announced that they have replaced the old birds eye navigation with one that makes a ton more sense.
I mentioned a couple days ago that the Birds Eye navigation control was being replaced soon, and today marks the day. Makes me want to sing the witch is dead song from Wizard of Oz. No more thumbnail grid – You can now navigate in Birds Eye using the new inset map similar to Streets and Trips. You can also drag to the end of a birds eye scene and VE will try to bring in the next scene based on where you are dragging.
Hallelujah!
Another new features is the ability to measure distance as you use the drawing tools. GIS professionals will appreciate that feature. I now see that I am only 200 yards from the front gate to Sun Devil Stadium (now that we have a real football coach again).
