by Playfuls Staff |
7th November 2006
A comparison between Google Earth and Virtual Earth 3D is inevitable. And the conclusion is that Virtual Earth is so restrictive that it cannot even be considered a Beta version.[more]
The first annoying thing that all users outside the US or England will probably encounter is that you are not allowed to install Virtual Earth 3D yet in your native language. In order to be able to install Microsoft’s VE3D you’ll have to change your settings (if you are in Windows XP) from Control Panel-Regional Settings and make your computer have a default English language. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to test the program on Linux, Solaris or Mac, but I am not that naïve to think it will work on those operating systems…My apologies to Microsoft if that is not the case…
The second annoying thing makes me again remember why everybody considers MS’s policy as arrogant, tyrannical and often stupid. You will not be able to view 3D maps if you don’t have Internet Explorer 6 or 7. To tell you the truth I do have IE7 installed on my computer but I don’t use it because I am a FireFox and Opera user. Well, Microsoft thought at that and made me cry in anger when I first tried to download the .msi installer for VE3D: nothing budged!... I asked through Skype a friend and he told me the same thing about FF: no pop-up, no warning, nothing! He eventually gave up but I had more patience and in the end I discovered that only IE is available (for now, I hope…) for this option.
The installation went fine and was quick, and it also wanted to add Live Maps Search to my Outlook which I refused. The first thing I noticed after VE3D started it that it does not use a “window” of its own, like Google Earth, it only displays maps and roads, etc., INSIDE Internet Explorer. How stupid can you be not to imagine that this could seriously damage your experience with the program? I mean, come on, let’s say I have at least three toolbars installed in IE and those toolbars “grab” at least 7cm out of my browser’s window. What’s left for VE? I need detailed, wide-screen view and MS leaves me no choice but to either uninstall the toolbars, the Virtual Earth 3D program itself or use Google Earth…
After only a few seconds, my machine started to function slowly. First thing that comes in mind is that something is using the system’s RAM too much. At my office I have an Athlon 64 3000+, socket AM2, 1GB of RAM and a 6100 integrated video card which shares the system’s RAM in case of emergency. I pressed the famous CTRL+ALT+DEL combination and guess what? Virtual Earth in IE 7 was using not less than 170MB of RAM! I said, ok, this is just my computer…I asked a colleague to install and run VE and…surprise, surprise…only 120 MB at him! Good job, Microsoft… By comparison, while I’m writing these lines Google Earth is only using 25 MB of my RAM. And of course, I had other applications opened…
But that was not all. After the initial tune-up for VE’s video settings, the application started to flicker in the most unusual way, although the automatic detection declared triumphantly that I meet the required hardware and that the “high quality” recommendation shall be used as default. Of course, I had no problem whatsoever concerning Google Earth until now, so it’s not the Nvidia driver or something…
I finally managed to review Virtual Earth on another computer and it would be euphemistical to say I was disappointed. The overall quality of Earth’s pictures in Microsoft’s product is clearly inferior compared to the one we have in Google Earth. Not even in New York or other US locations (just compare them and you’ll see I’m right). Earth looks awful from MS’s perspective. The same image of the same area in Google Earth and in Virtual Earth shows clearly that GE is light years in front of VE3D. While in Google Earth I can even see the trees and their shadows in both 2D and 3D, in Virtual Earth I can only see a greenish contour, with some indication concerning the peak of a mountain and that’s all.
Not to mention the fact that they do need to make serious corrections: I have found for example that the Carpathian Mountains in Romania are situated in the Balkan Peninsula! And geographically speaking, the Danube separates Romania from the Balkan Peninsula…
There is no possibility to change the default 3D settings in IE7 or 6, while in Google Earth I can even set the texture colors, the graphics mode (OpenGL or DirectX; by the way VE only works with DirectX…), the terrain quality, the cache size used by the application on my HDD, etc.
The good things I’ve noticed about Virtual Earth (there are some, yes…) are the maritime routes, clearly displayed and in detail. You can also see in hybrid vision the direction of circulation for most highways in the US. Moreover, you have a 3D view of some major US cities, but the 3D buildings still need some CGI tune-ups.
Here is the complete list of what you need to run Virtual Earth (although this does not mean that you won’t have troubles at all):
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, or the Windows Vista operating system.
Windows Internet Explorer version 6 or 7, with security settings set to enable or prompt Microsoft ActiveX controls.
A video card with 32 MB or greater video memory that is compatible with Microsoft DirectX 9.
Hardware acceleration must be set to Full.
Broadband connectivity (recommended).
