When looking up a location on a map I always goto Google Maps first. This is not because its the best but because I have been using it for so long that its become a habit (you just Google it).
But off late I have been noticing that the search results in Virtual Earth are almost always a lot more superior to those returned by Google Earth. Virtual Earth seems to be context senstive and returns results that are more specific on the other hand Google Earth returns a bunch of results - which is not a bad thing on its own - but the one you are looking for is not at the top.
Case in point: Recently I was looking for where Sloan's Lake is in Denver. For the same phrase "Sloan's Lake, Denver" I got the following 2 results - now you decide.
Google Earth Virtual Earth
Google Earth returned many results (Sloan's lake liquor anyone?) and C is the correct answer.
Virtual Earth returned exactly one result, which was on the lake - To me VE is clearly the winner.
What do you think?
1 comment:
I think it depends on what the user is looking for. If the user is looking for a business, Google Maps works extremely well. If a person is looking for a landmark, Virtual Earth is the answer. For instance, I don't think Virtual Earth would come in handy for someone who wanted to look for business listings. At the very least, Google Earth did get the user in the area that was Sloan Lake and centered the map there. I'd consider that a win for both types of users.
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