Bing Maps - Bing Maps.

Many users would like to enjoy satellite photos of their native places, see their house from above, a nearby river or forest, in a word, everything that is commonly called the “small Motherland”. A tool for realizing this desire can be satellite mapping services that provide a unique opportunity to view all the required geolocations in a detailed graphical mode. After my attempts to look at my home from a satellite online, I found really high-quality services and I will share my best practices in the article.

There is a huge variety of mapping services on the web that provide the user with access to satellite maps. high resolution. At the same time, the vast majority of such services use the API from " Google Maps”, and only a few services (including the domestic Yandex.Maps) can boast of their own cartographic developments that are different from Google’s dominant maps in this segment.

At the same time, working with such cards is quite standard. You go to one of them, turn on the satellite display if necessary, and then enter your address into the search bar ( locality, street, house number). After that, the service finds the required location, and you can use the mouse wheel to increase or decrease the existing display. If for some reason the service does not find your house, I recommend entering the name of the city (town, village) and the street, and then find right house independently with the mouse.

At the same time, some services allow not only to see your house from above, but also to walk along the streets of your native city, and enjoy the view of the buildings we need up close.

Let's move on to the list of services that will help us see our home from a satellite.

Google Maps - look at your house from a satellite in real time

The world's most popular mapping resource is undoubtedly Google Maps. In addition to the maps presented in the schematic and satellite view, the service also includes the ability to 360 ° view the streets of many cities in the world (Street View). Information about street traffic and traffic jams (Google Traffic), route planner from point A to point B, 3D display of many geographic points, and other useful features.

There are two main options for viewing your home:

Yandex.Maps - allows you to see the necessary object in Russia

Another mapping service with which you can enjoy the view of your home is Yandex.Maps. This service is the most popular in Russia, since the level of displaying the territory of Russia and the frequency of updating data for the Russian Federation exceeds all existing analogues, including the generally recognized maps from Google.

Like the Google Maps service, Yandex.Maps can boast of both standard and satellite map display (as well as the Hybrid mode, which involves applying various text and schematic markings on a satellite map). In addition, users have access to the street display mode (“Yandex.Panoramas”), the traffic congestion indicator (“Yandex.Traffic”), as well as the crowdsourcing system “People’s Map”, which can be edited by any user.

To view your home using Yandex.Maps, go to the resource, type your address in the search bar above, and press enter. To switch to street view mode, click on the button with binoculars at the bottom of the screen (street panoramas and photos). And then select one of the streets marked in blue (you will switch to the street view at this point, and you can enjoy the flavor of these places).

Bing.Maps - satellite map from Microsoft

Bing.Maps is a web-based mapping service from Microsoft, formerly known as Windows Live Maps and MSN Virtual Earth. Its capabilities include satellite display of maps, street view, 3D display for 60 cities of the world, laying the best route and other features that are typical for services of this type.

To view your home using Bing.Maps, go to the specified service, click on "Road" on the right, and select "Hybrid View". Then enter the address you need in the search bar, and view the view that opens.

MapQuest is a popular American mapping service.

Map Quest (translated as "Card Search") is a free American mapping service, the second most popular in the US after Google Maps. The resource can boast of a high degree of detail on the streets of many countries of the world, it will help you plot a convenient route, inform you about the available traffic, and much more.

To work with it, you need to go to this resource, click on the button with the image the globe on the right (Satelite), which will allow you to switch to satellite display mode. After that, in the search bar on the left, enter the address you need (preferably in Latin), and enjoy displaying the desired location using the MapQuest service.

Conclusion

You can look at your home from a satellite using the services listed by me in this material. For the territory of Russia, I would recommend the Yandex.Maps service - its level of detail and the frequency of updated data inspire us to consider Yandex maps the best cartographic service in the Russian Federation. On a global scale, the Google Maps service is the undisputed leader, therefore it will be optimal to use the tools of this service to display maps of many countries of the world.

In contact with

Bing Maps (formerly Microsoft Virtual Earth) is an online mapping Platform operated by the Bing division of Microsoft Corporation. The platform includes map tiles, map embedding APIs, routing, etc. It uses its own datasets, often licensed from third party geodata providers, and is therefore subject to copyright restrictions...

Bing Maps explores working with OpenStreetMap in a variety of ways.

content

Aerial photos of Bing

In November 2010, it was announced ( , ) that Bing had granted the right to track their aerial photographs to provide content to OpenStreetMap. Please note that the only legal use of Bing maps is to use an aerial imagery layer as a background to create your own OSM drawing (also known as "tracing"). It is not legal to use any other information from Bing Maps (such as street names, street view, etc.).

Attention. In May 2018, Microsoft updated their general license terms to include specific clauses regarding OpenStreetMap. In particular, in section 2:

• 2. What are my rights? The rights you have under this Agreement are limited solely to the use of aerial photographs in the non-commercial online editor OpenStreetMap maps ("Application"). We require that you use access credentials to use the service and require the use of transaction and/or session tracking methods for all uses of the service as described in the applicable SDKs.
• In addition, we grant you a limited right to use the street view images provided by the STREETSIDE API in read-only format solely as an additional source of supporting truth in the OpenStreetMap editing environment. You may not use the StreetSide API to retrieve StreetSide images or for any other use.

Some clarification of these terms may be needed (for example, what exactly is meant by a non-commercial online OSM editor). On the this moment best guess is the following:

• Bing images can still be used in the typical mainstream OSM editors (iD, Potlatch2 and JOSM) and in mobile editors that maintain an internet connection.
• Active image caching for offline use is not allowed
• Street shots can be used to confirm surveys, but not to retrieve POIs de novo.
• Bird's eye view images not available for OSM

Open in editors

• Most commonly used editors (sorted alphabetically):
  • – Opens with bing by default, but you can select "Bing aerial photos" in the layer select icon on the right
  • JOSM- In the main menu bar of the program, select "Layers" then "Bing Satellite Imagery"
  • Potlatch 2- Opens with bing by default, but you can select "Bing" from the "background" dropdown. You can also turn off the backlight there.
• Other editors:
  • Merkaartor– Create a new layer using menu create → add new image layer and then change source of image layer to Bing using menu layer → map → plugins → Bing (v0.17 and later).
  • Potlatch 1- not available, and probably won "t ever be.

Source tag

The age of the images can be viewed using the Bing imagery analyzer for OSM (link). By zooming in, you can view the age of images taken at each zoom level. See discussion . Currently, Bing's OSM editable images are the same age displayed on their free-as-in-beer map.

Accuracy

Keep in mind that at lower scales, Bing's imagery may be misaligned . That is, the alignment is not consistent across scales; at one zoom you will be aligned, but at another, you will be misaligned. This differs from other image sources, in that including yahoo which, if offset, tends to be constantly offset regardless of the scale you use.This applies to various locations around the world.

Areas with elevation changes (mountains, hills, bridges) appear to be more prone to this, suggesting that images were not always taken at an exact 90 degree angle (fixed images are available as a bird's eye view on Bing Map but are not allowed to be used as a source in OSM). As a result, objects at the same height (ground level in a flat area) can be fairly accurate, while objects that are higher (quays, bridges, buildings) or lower (cuttings) can be slightly off.

Use GPS tracks, other OSM data you know are aligned, or other aligned images (if any) to align images in the local area.

Precision-discussions

• Imagery Offset Database - free database, functional API and JOSM offset correction plugin
• See Talk:Bing for more ground testing.
• See the section "Bing maps is misplaced" in the OSM-talk mail list; initial posting item link dated December 7, 2010, or entry thread from Gmane's OSM-talk archive.
• True Offset Process - ideas for building a base of correction offsets
• Use tools like

Bing Maps is a serviceof Microsoft that provides people the chance to view maps of the places they are trying to find. It was launched in 2005 and has since then been updated many times to include new features. Unlike the Google Maps, this map service is not available on mobile platforms like Android and iOS.

Features of Bing Maps

The Bing Maps are extremely feature filled and offer a number of exciting options to the use rs to play with.

• Number of Street Views

The best feature of Bing Maps is the number of views that you get when trying to find the exact location of a street. You get to choose from a set of five views to see a street. These views are classified as bird's eye view, aerial view, road view, street side view and 3D view.

• Directional Information

Another of the great features of Bing Maps that sets them apart from others is the wealth of directional information they offer to the users. These maps provide detailed directions to you so that you can easily find your way to your target destination. Directions are available for three different modes of travel which are driving, walking and using the transit system.

• ClearFlow

ClearFlow is a useful little feature offered by Bing Maps that lets you avoid traffic jams with ease. By providing updates of traffic to the drivers, ClearFlow can help them in knowing which roads are open for traffic and which ones are facing congestion. This smart technology is available for 72 cities of the United States at the moment.

Recently Added Features to Bing Maps

Bing Maps have been updated from time to time to add new features. The following are some of the new options that have been added to the service not so long ago.

• Augmented Reality

This is a new feature that has been added by Microsoft to the map service which utilizes real photos of famous stores and businesses located on the streets you are searching for. These pictures create the effect of augmented reality and offer you a dynamic view of all the marquee shops that are present on your destination’s route.

• Traffic Incidents

This is another one of the new features to have been added to the map service by Microsoft. It keeps you informed about the latest happenings taking place on your route, thus, keeping you prepared for any unexpected event.

Advantages You can Gain by Using Bing Maps

There are a number of advantages and benefits that can be availed through the use of Bing Maps.

• You get the chance to find the streets you have not traveled to before with ease.
• You will have a number of views to play with when trying to find the exact whereabouts of a particular street.
• You will have access to detailed information regarding the driving and walking routes of many locations in many cities of the United States.
• With these maps, you get the chance to avoid losing time in traffic jams as they offer you real time updates about the traffic conditions on the roads.