Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth?
We continue to go back and forth over this decision. We’re currently building a really cool “Find a Home” feature which will be based on either Google Maps or Microsoft VE mapping platforms. Both of these applications have their merits, and both have some drawbacks.
I’d love to get some input from folks out there who may use Google maps and VE maps on occasion:
- Which do you like and why?
- Which is more user-friendly?
- Which one do you use more?
It seems like every other mapping feature out there is Google. Lots of cools sites like Trulia are based on Google maps. But then some of the big dogs out there have embraced Microsoft’s Virtual Earth platform. Companies like Redfin, John L. Scott, and Hotpads all utilize this technology. (Just a sidebar: I really don’t like John L. Scott’s search feature. Any mapping platform that makes you click a hundred times to see the view you want is a bit ridiculous)
I’ll pass on any comments to my programmers.
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
You should check out this article we wrote on the two: http://blog.redfin.com/2007/01/redfin_on_virtual_earth.html
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Thanks for sharing that, Matt.
We too have run our own analysis and at the time of this writing googlemaps has caught up on some features. Of course, Microsoft just released Virtual Earth 5, so we’re updating our analysis again.