30 July 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Microsoft Street Slide makes Google look pedestrian

Microsoft's answer to Google's panoramic Street View, Street Slide promises features that will offer users an even clearer view of neighborhoods in towns and cities around the world.

Whereas Google's innovative offering allows users to pan 360 degrees around the position in which they are 'standing', attempts to zoom in to the static image result in blurring rather than a crisper resolution.

As Microsoft explained in a recent research paper: "Navigating such photo collections is thus laborious and similar to hunting for a given location on foot: walk 'along' the street (jumping from bubble to bubble in Street View) looking around, until you find the location of interest."

PC Pro reports that Street Slide aims to go one step better, by allowing users to switch from their personal 'bubble' to a flat view of the street, making it easier to identify buildings such as shops in the area. By flattening out the image, the service aims to replicate the way streets would look in real life.

"Dynamically altering the alignment and visible portions of each image simulates a pseudo-perspective view of the streetside from a distance," Microsoft explained, thereby creating a deeper "sense of immersion."

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft's Street Slide will overtake Google upon its release - and more pressingly, whether it will fall foul to the same privacy problems that have plagued Google's service since day one.

During comparative tests, users were reportedly able to track down locations 17 seconds faster with Street Slide, and Microsoft has already been testing its service on mobile platforms such as the iPhone - though as of yet, only a few streets have been captured and digitised.