Bada-Bing!

I've been noodling around with Bing Maps - Microsoft's answer to Google Earth - and my reaction is mixed.

I really like the "bird's-eye" view I can get with addresses - the link above should take you to one of those views and you can see for yourself. The detail is superior to Google Earth but Bing likes to keep me at a certain distance; I can zoom in only so far before Bing decides I've come close enough. And I can't embed the view in a blog-post, either; I have to switch to a plain ol' map view and that's no fun. Bing also has a "street-view" equivalent to Google Earth but it's coverage is lacking. They've yet to come down our street and, so far, I'm aware of at least two different views that Google Earth has provided of our front door.

Still, I have to admit, I enjoy using Bing to soar over familiar, and not so familiar, landmarks. It's a good start for Microsoft. I'm looking forward to when they get all the kinks worked out.