Tracking Santa in Virtual Earth 3D and Google Earth

You can track Santa as he travels round the world at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28146841 hosted by MSNBC. The Santa Tracker requires the Virtual Earth 3D plugin to be installed. The Santa tracker is updated dynamically and Santa’s sleigh is elevated to illustrate his magical flying capabilities.

More details at Virtual Earth Blog

You can also see Santa at his village in the North Pole:  The North Pole – A Virtual Earth Christmas Experience

“Microsoft Virtual Earth and MSNBC are changing the game this year when it comes to tracking Santa. You’ve all seen the NORAD Santa Tracker and while that’s been fun over the years, well, it has gotten a bit stale. Virtual Earth Product Group decided it was time to spice things up and build a more immersive 3D tracking mechanism for Santa and his reindeer. Not only that, but we went ahead and recreated a 3D version of Santa’s Village at The North Pole.”

Check out  The North Pole – A Virtual Earth Christmas Experience for more details and a related contest.

 

Also Santa can be tracked using Google Earth:

Google Map with Santa's current location will be displayed on the NORAD Santa Web site, operated by Google and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Santa fans can also track his movements in 3D in Google Earth by downloading a special NORAD Tracks Santa KML

More details at cnet news 

So enjoy your Holidays tracking Santa and Merry Christmas !!!!!!!!!!

Track Hurricane Gustav with Virtual Earth

TNRIS (Texas Natural Resources Information System) has launched their new Emergency Resources web site which overlays Doppler weather with a Virtual Earth map for storm tracking. You can also get down to a specific city, by geocoding places in the search box. Track the Hurricane Gustav which has just hit the US coasts.

 

(source:Virtual Earth Blog)

Hope such satellite imagery from Virtual Earth is provided for all , such as for the recent Floods in Bihar, India.

Top 100 Iconic Photo Locations of the World

Outdoor Photography and PC Photo magazines are publishing a three month feature sponsored by Microsoft and Canon USA to identify and recognize the Top 100 Iconic Photo Locations of the World. The interactive website enables viewers to use Microsoft Virtual Earth to explore the top photo locations selected by the editors along with their own favorite sites.

There is also a photo contest that invites readers to submit their ultimate shots of exotic locations. But its open to US residents only.

Even if you can not take part in contest, still check out the site for some beautiful location photos and also explore them in Virtual Earth. Check  the instruction on the site.

New Virtual Earth 3D blog - Exploring Microsoft Virtual Earth in 3D

Check out this new blog on Virtual Earth 3D at http://ve3d.spaces.live.com/

The Virtual Earth 3D blog is kept by the Microsoft 3D Integration team in Boulder Colorado. It provides a forum for the sharing of information and ideas around the Virtual Earth 3D environment.

"Welcome to the Virtual Earth 3D blog, dedicated to the sharing of information about the Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D environment as seen on the Live Search Maps site. Here we will strive to keep you abreast of the latest product news and general items of interest related to the great work that is coming out of the Microsoft Boulder 3D Integration team. We encourage you to use this as a forum to voice your questions and share your views about Virtual Earth 3D.

If you have not yet experienced the Virtual Earth 3D experience, you are in for a treat. Microsoft is investing heavily to produce a complete and accurate digital representation of the earth on the web, which in addition to satellite and aerial views, includes 3D terrain and photorealistic, geospecific 3D city models. To date, there are roughly 300 cities published on the Live Search maps site and the Virtual Earth development team is adding more every month. The models provide you with an opportunity to explore locations from all vantage points and perspectives from the comfort of your home, hotel room, or anywhere that you can connect to the Internet.

Virtual Earth is completely served up over the Internet. The only thing you need to install is what amounts to about a 5 MB plug-in to manage the 3D experience. To do this, from the Live Search Maps site you click on the Control panel 3D button."

I hope many Indian cities will also be added.

For more details, check the Virtual Earth 3D Blog.

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