Well everyone is talking about the supposed "Google Maps killer" Microsoft Virtual Earth. As many people know, it was up for several hours to test the production servers and is coming back Monday. I took a few moments to check it out, and came away with a sense that it is really more like virtual history; at least in the satellite imagery department. This is due to the obvious age of many of the satellite (or aerial) images available. As many noted, this seems endemic to the service and not just to one or more particular areas. However for my own home region it is at a minimum 10 years out of date (and in black and white or greyscale) while the analogous Google satellite image (same approximate size and exact same region) is in color and seems to be from about 18 months ago. A couple of schools, a Wal-Mart, an Orchard Supply, a Water-Park are just a few of the things missing from the Microsoft Virtual Earth satellite image.
Earth to Microsoft: It's all about the data dummy! You can stick a great UI, perfect UX, etc. onto the thing - but at the end of the day you need to have great data or nobody will use you a great deal. Hopefully that's something they'll get right soon. Although for now I can enjoy seeing my home region as it looked in days gone by...
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