As you’re probably aware in these past few days at Microsoft there has been quite a few significant product launches including the RTM version of Windows Vista and Microsoft 2007 office system. But what I wanted to share with you are some of the really cool innovations we’re making in the space of virtual mapping with Virtual Earth 3D and Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth.

Virtual Earth 3D – It’s been a while, but finally we have our response to Google Earth with our 3D mapping system with actual 3D building models as you visit the major US cities. The representations of the 3D models are very real and I have spent the past couple of days just looking around fully rendered cities – I’m very impressed by the attention to detail to the buildings. It’s like SimCity but real. Just to add to the fun, they have added traffic information on the major motorways with colour coding to represent the average travelling speed. How cool is that.

Even though this is not fully available in NZ, there are lots being done with rendering of cities outside of the USA. In NZ, I’m proud to say they have rendered one of the most recognised icons in Auckland. I’m sure you can tell what it is.

The other really cool innovation is the Microsoft Live Labs – Photosynth project. We were shown this new technology at our global briefing in Orlando earlier this year and now everyone can see this. It’s essentially a collection of photographs of a particular place and this tool brings it all together and creates a 3D representation of the particular place. As a user you can see this place brought to life in this virtual world as you move from one photograph to the next. It is best seeing this yourself by going to http://labs.live.com/photosynth. You must check this out, this is by far the coolest thing I have seen this year!