What's New Archives

The following topics previously appeared on the What's New page.

Web Site Update (April 17, 2005)

Sunday, April 17th, we released an update to the web user interface. The following are the changes in this release:

  • The Address display page has been re-designed to display faster! Previously, Microsoft Research Maps would generate a single large image containing a "push-pin" indicating the location of the address. This image would take a long time to transmit and display on slow speed lines. The new release transmits several small tiles to browser just as the standard image web page does. One tile will contain the "push-pin" near the address location. The new page displays much faster on slow speed lines and pan operations are also up to 50% faster.
  • By popular demand, the UTM coordinates are back on the Info page!
  • The Order Photo link goes to the order image page at the Adventure Station web site. Previously, the Order Photo link mistakenly directed users to the order topo map page.
  • The web service namespace (TerraService2.asmx) has been changed to http://MSRMaps.com from http://localhost. There are no functionality changes to the Microsoft Research Maps code. This will require a re-compilation of your application.
  • The OpenGIS Web Map server has been re-written to improve performance. Unfortunately, only image/jpeg is supported. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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Patch released to new Microsoft Research Maps Interface (December 7, 2004)

A number of issues with the Microsoft Research Maps web site were identified by our users since we released the new version 6 interface last Friday, December 3, 2004. The issues identified and fixed with the patch released on December 7th are:

  1. The World File link on the Download page returned incorrect geo-spatial coordinates. The World File page now returns correct results that are identical with the previous version's results.
  2. The image on the Download page is both download-able (right-click to save image/picture as) and navigable (left-click to pan and zoom). On the FireFox web browser, it is not possible to enable both features. The December 7th patch disables the navigable, left-click to pan and zoom for FireFox users. FireFox users can now right-click and select Save Image As... to download a personal copy of the image.
  3. The web service (http://MSRMaps.com/terraservice2.asmx) and LandmarkService (http://MSRMaps.com/LandmarkService.asmx) ASP.NET help page were broken on the initial release. Both have been fixed in this patch. Web Service users can again compile with http://MSRMaps.com/terraservice2.asmx and http://MSRMaps.com/LandmarkService.asmx files!
  4. The web service had the incorrect namespace. The correct namespace, http://MSRMaps.com/, has been applied to the web service.

I apologize for these errors getting released. In particular, I hope that my web service users do not have to recompile again due to this patch. Do let us know if you find any issues with Microsoft Research Maps by e-mailing us at MSRMaps2010@hotmail.com. Thanks very much for your patience with us.

Sincerely,
Microsoft Research Maps Team

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New Microsoft Research Maps User Interface

On December 1, 2004, we released Microsoft Research Maps Version 6. Version 6 has made a number of changes to the user interface you interact with on Microsoft Research Maps. We hope you will find these changes have simplified how you work with Microsoft Research Maps. Many of the changes have been recommended to us by you our users. The following is a brief overview of the changes introduced with version 6.0:

Page Layout: All Microsoft Research Maps web pages have been separated into four sections - Top (Toolbar), Left (Search Panel), Center (Image), and Bottom (Legal). The Top section is the Microsoft Research Maps "toolbar". It contains is a miniature site map of the major functions available on the Microsoft Research Maps web site - Home, Advanced Find, Famous Places, Web Services, and About. The Left section is an expanded "Search" panel. The Center section contains the imagery or text information presented by the web page. It is displayed with a white background. The Bottom section contains links to the Microsoft Research Maps sponsors information and the links our lawyers require to have.

Search Panel: You will notice that all Microsoft Research Maps web pages have a "Search Panel" located on the left hand side of the page in dark blue. The panel is intended to be a miniature advanced find form. The Search Panel is divided into for mini-sections:

  1. Address/Place Search - The first three fields, Street, City, and State, enable you to search for an address or a place name. Microsoft Research Maps has very little data outside of the United States, therefore we left the Country field off the search form. If you want to search for data in Canada or Mexico, click on the Advanced Find button found in the Top section of each page.
  2. Coverage Map - A small coverage map of the United State than contains a small yellow circle showing where the Image displayed in the Center section is located. You can click directly on the coverage map to quickly jump to another location in the country.
  3. Longitude and Latitude coordinates - appear below the Coverage Map. The fields are filled in with the longitude and latitude of the center of the Image in the Center section. You can enter new longitude and latitude values to jump to another location within the world.
  4. Partner Links - Appear below the search area. Currently we offer a link to ClickWeather.com where you can the weather forecast for the center of the Image in the Center section.

Center (Image) Section - The center of the is where Microsoft Research Maps will display imagery or text information such as Advanced Find search results, list of Famous Places, etc. The Image section has been simplified to allow for larger images to be displayed. Imagery is displayed on a light blue background with a white border directly around the imagery. The white border contains the pan buttons (NW, N, NE, E, W, SW, SE). The light blue border contains the imagery Size (Small, Medium, Large), Zoom (In, Out, direct resolution), and imagery Theme tabs. The size of the maps has been increased by 200 pixels in width and height for each size. Small maps are now 600x400; Medium are 800x600, and Large are 1000x800. Above the imagery are file folder like tabs that identify the type of imagery being viewed, e.g. Aerial Imagery, Topo Maps, Urban Area. The current image is displayed with a white tab. Blue tabs contain links to change the view to other imagery types. The white area above the light blue imagery control section contains the imagery provider's logo, the distance to the nearest known location, and the date the image was captured (taken). To find out more about how to use Microsoft Research Maps read our How to Use Microsoft Research Maps web page.

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New Microsoft Research Maps Web Service supports Urban Area Theme

New data themes could not be easily added to the original Microsoft Research Maps Web Service (TerraService.asmx) because the theme parameter and field was implemented an enum type. Adding a new theme would force a recompile of every application. To minimize the impact on our web service users, we implemented a new web service, TerraService2.asmx, where the Theme field/parameter is changed to be an integer type.

To use the version 2 web service, you will have to do the following:

  1. Re-compile your application using the TerraService2.asmx WSDL file. For Microsoft Visual Studio.NET users, delete your current web reference to the TerraService and add http://MSRMaps.com/TerraService2.asmx
  2. The Theme parameter is an Int32 type in all MSR Maps Service method calls. You will have to change your application code to pass an integer value for the Theme value.
  3. The Theme field is an Int32 type in all the data structures returned by MSR Maps Service method calls. You will have to change your application code to use the Theme field returned from MSR Maps Service calls as Int32 type.
  4. The Theme enum values are mapped to the following integer values: Theme.Photo is 1, Theme.Topo is 2, and Theme.Relief. The Urban Area theme is 4.
  5. The TerraService documentation has been updated to reflect this change.

If you have any issues using the TerraService2.asmx file, please send a message to Microsoft Research Maps mailbox.

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New Urban Area data (May 14, 2004)

We have been loading more of the new, high resolution, natural color imagery called "Urban Area" data. In addition to Seattle, we have added Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Houston to name a few of the major cities added the database. We will continue to add new Urban Area data as it arrives from the USGS. We have received 46 of the 133 planned cities this calendar year.

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New Microsoft Research Maps Hardware and Software (December 4, 2003)

We have migrated the Microsoft Research Maps database and application to a new hardware platform. We have added processor, memory, and disk storage capacity to all our database and web servers. We expect the new hardware to relieve a number of performance issues we have experienced since we moved into the new data center. Our Compaq Storageworks cluster was very reliable and good to us for three years prior to the move. But unfortunately it had pretty rough move to the new facility that we could never quite get right. So on to new more powerful equipment.

In addition to upgrading the hardware, we also upgraded the web application software to Version 1.1 of the Microsoft .NET Framework and ASP.NET. Users of the programmable web service might need to re-link with the WSDL files located at http://terraservice.net/terraservice.wsdl or http://MSRMaps.com/terraservice.asmx.

The following new features have been added to Microsoft Research Maps with this release:

  1. Waterproof Maps - Through a partnership with OffRoute.com, we are pleased to offer waterproof topographic maps. While browsing your favorite hiking or camping location on Microsoft Research Maps, click on the Waterproof Map icon Get a Waterproof Map on the top blue bar, or click on the OffRoute.com logo Waterproof Maps provided by OffRoute.com located on the left hand side of the Microsoft Research Maps imagery page. This will take you to the customized for Microsoft Research Maps waterproof map ordering page were you can fine tune the size and location of your waterproof map. If you choose to purchase a waterproof map, OffRoute.com will process your credit card payment and ship you a waterproof map. OffRoute.com is not affiliated with Microsoft or Microsoft Research Maps.
  2. Current Weather Forecast from ClickWeather.com - Below the OffRoute.com link on the left hand side of the page is the current high and low temperature forecast for the center of the image. For example, here is the current forecast for Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Get a weather forecast for this area from ClickWeather.com You can click on the current forecast to get a detailed weather forecast for the area of interest from ClickWeather.com. ClickWeather.com is not affiliated with Microsoft or Microsoft Research Maps.
  3. New high resolution natural color imagery! - We have a small sample of the new high resolution, natural color data-set that we have just started receiving from the USGS. The new data is .3 meter resolution, or roughly 1 foot per pixel) and we have re-sampled it to .25 meter resolution. The data is also very recent. Our sample city, Seattle Washington, was photographed on June 13, 2002. Check the sample out by panning around Seattle Washington. With this new imagery, you can actually see people on the ground (look for the roof of the golf cart near the green and the two white dots to the left of the cart roof) and windshields on cars.

We changed a number of internal features within Microsoft Research Maps that correct bugs or performance issues that we have had and many of you have experienced within the system. I think you will find the new Microsoft Research Maps is consistently faster and more reliable than the previous system. If you don't agree, let us know by e-mailing us at MSRMaps2010@hotmail.com.

With the new application, there is one bug that we have introduced. We do not correctly detect when we have overlapping imagery. When viewing USGS DOQ (aerial imagery) at 1 meter resolution, you will not be able to switch to viewing USGS DRG (topo map) data. To view USGS DRG data, you will have to zoom out to 2 meter or higher resolution where you can switch to USGS DRG data. When viewing USGS Urban Area data at .5 meter and .25 meter resolution, you will not be able to switch to USGS DOQ or DRG data. You will have to zoom out to 1 meter resolution or higher and switch to USGS DOQ or DRG data. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have it corrected soon.

Now that we have the new equipment installed and operational, we are getting to work on loading the new high resolution imagery into the system. In the coming weeks, we will be loading Saint Louis, Washington DC, Sacramento, and a number of other cities with .25 meter resolution data. Many thanks to all of you that have experienced problems with Microsoft Research Maps the last several months. We hope your future experiences will be pleasant.

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OpenGIS Map Server Supports Geographic Projection Transformations (July 29, 2003)

Microsoft Research Maps supports an OpenGIS compliant Web Map Server. Up until now, the map server only supported UTM Spatial Reference Systems (SRS). UTM is the native projection of the USGS data stored within the Microsoft Research Maps database. We have received many requests to support re-projecting USGS data from its native UTM projection to Geographic project, a.k.a. EPSG:4326.

With the July 29th release, Microsoft Research Maps supports the EPSG:4326 SRS! Bounding box coordinates are specified in decimal longitude and latitude, e.g. -81.695,41.491,-81.681,41.499 is a high resolution view of Jacobs Field in Cleveland Ohio. This example shows one of the new Styles added with this release. Previously, the OpenGIS Map Server supported drawing UTM or Geographic grid lines in a single color. New Style choices offer UTM or Geographic grid lines in Red, Black, Blue, Goldenrod, Yellow, Green, Gray, White, Black, and Magenta.

The Microsoft Research Maps re-projection engine is capable of re-projecting native data from multiple UTM projections. This means you can form a single web map that spans a UTM boundary. This web map of New Orleans, Louisiana with the UTM grid style shows how the Microsoft Research Maps OpenGIS Map Server can render a web map from data extracted from two UTM SRS or zones.

Microsoft Research Maps dynamically performs the re-projection from the native UTM data to the EPSG:4326 (Geographic) SRS. You will notice that creation of EPSG:4326 re-projected images is noticeably slower than images rendered in the data's native image projection. If you have questions regarding the new features of the OpenGIS compliant Web Map Server, please e-mail us at MSRMaps2010@hotmail.com.

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Microsoft Research Maps Move is Complete (June 11, 2003)

On June 5th, 2003, we completed the move of the hardware that powers Microsoft Research Maps to a new data center. We are still cleaning up a number of issues. Some of you might have experienced "Access Denied" errors after June 5th. This problem was corrected on June 10th.

The move was a much more painful process than we had anticipated or planned for. More on the physical moving nightmare in a minute.

As part of the move, we also have renamed our web site from " Microsoft Research Maps" to "Microsoft Research Maps". We made this name change for a number of reasons:

  1. Originally Microsoft Research Maps contained non-U.S. imagery. Since January 2000, we have only hosted data from the US Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS only has U.S. data.
  2. Our web address is long - terraserver.microsoft.com. In an effort to shorten the address, we changed to MSRMaps.com.
  3. Microsoft Research Maps had been a microsoft.com and then later a msn.com property. Microsoft Research Maps no longer is a microsoft.com or msn.com property. Having an independent address disassociates Microsoft Research Maps with microsoft.com and msn.com.

With the move completed, Microsoft Research Maps is up to full strength running on the same hardware and software that supported terraserver.microsoft.com prior to the move. All 3.3 Tera-Bytes of imagery are available and back on-line to serve your needs. If you see any issues with the new system, please e-mail us a description of the problem to the Microsoft Research Maps Mailbox and we'll get right on fixing it.

Why was the move so painful?

The Microsoft Research Maps hardware is physically large. There are computer racks full of disks and two racks full of computer servers and Storage Area Network equipment. Originally, we had planned to move the equipment in the computer racks by simply un-plugging the power cords, disconnecting the racks, and roll them out on the truck. Unfortunately, the new data center could not accommodate our existing racks. Instead of rolling in the racks and plugging them in, we had to disassemble each component and install it in a new rack.

Re-racking computers is usually a simple thing. But with 18 tera-bytes of data, re-racking the storage is a complicated thing. Any error in re-connecting cables on the storage system can result in the loss of the entire database. So instead of a one or two days to physically install the hardware, it has taken 6 days to re-rack, re-cable, and most importantly verify that the storage is re-connected.

Once the physical machine had been re-constructed by June 3, we got to work re-installing the cluster software and the database software. This work completed on the morning of June 5. At this point we were able to re-direct users from our temporary web site on the Microsoft Redmond campus back to the production servers.

We thank you for your patience while we physically moved Microsoft Research Maps. Please let us know if you see any problems with Microsoft Research Maps by sending an email to Microsoft Research Maps Mailbox.

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Microsoft Research Maps is Moving to a New Data Center (May 23, 2003)

We will be moving the hardware that powers Microsoft Research Maps from its present location to another data center. During the move, we will be operating Microsoft Research Maps on a smaller hardware platform. From a Research perspective, we are interested in seeing how the smaller or "mini-Microsoft Research Maps" configuration holds up under our normal production load. There is a distinct possibility that the "mini-Microsoft Research Maps" may not perform as well as the production Microsoft Research Maps configuration. We appreciate your patience during the move.

While we are moving, we are also going to change the Microsoft Research Maps domain name. From now on, Microsoft Research Maps will be named Microsoft Research Maps and can accessed by the name http://MSRMaps.com. Please update your bookmarks, shortcuts, and any other links you previously have had to http://terraserver.microsoft.com, http://terraservice.net, or http://terraserver.microsoft.net.

Please let us know if you experience any errors or other problems during the move. We are working hard to ensure smooth operation during the move. We appreciate your help in pointing out any problems or mistakes that we have made by emailing us at Microsoft Research Maps Mailbox.

The hardware behind Microsoft Research Maps is physically large. We expect the move to take approximately five to seven days to complete if all goes well. The current system has been running 24 hours a day for almost three years. This will be the first time we have actually turned off the power on the entire configuration. So we are a little worried that the system might not come up right away after the move. We will keep posted on our progress here on the "What's New" page.

Thanks for your patience during this transition.
Microsoft Research Maps Team

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Requested Changes to Microsoft Research Maps (March 14, 2003)

The following enhancements and bug fixes were applied to Microsoft Research Maps on March 14, 2003:

  1. Default URL is http://terraserver.microsoft.com : For the last two years, MSN House and Home (previously MSN HomeAdvisor) has hosted Microsoft Research Maps. As of December 1, 2002, Microsoft Research Maps is hosted by Microsoft Research. The default link to Microsoft Research Maps has changed from http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com to http://terraserver.microsoft.com. Note, both URLs will continue to work.

    The link on the toolbar to House and Home has been removed. However, the links to homes for sale and neighborhood demographics are still on the left side of the web page when viewing imagery.
  2. Print Page enhancements: An extra row of tiles has been added to the 11x17 inch page view. A new option to display grid lines and geographic coordinates like the Image Info page has been added. Choosing to show grid lines reduces the image width by 200 pixels to ensure that the coordinates are visible on both sides of the page. There is also a "Landscape" and "Portrait" mode that has been added.
  3. E-Mail bug fix: The URL generated in the body of message when clicking on the E-Mail icon was incorrect. It has been fixed.
  4. Map Server fix: The Microsoft Research Maps Map Server would not display the "Landmark" icons on the image. This has been fixed.
  5. Image Info fix: The coordinate values displayed in the top left corner of the image on the Info page were incorrect (Northwest corner). This has been fixed.

Many thanks to our users for your suggestions on improving Microsoft Research Maps! Please let us know if there is any other changes we should make with an e-mail to Microsoft Research Maps.

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Requested Changes to the New User Interface (October 18, 2002)

Based on your feedback, we have made the following changes to the new Microsoft Research Maps user interface:

  1. Image Display Page:
    • Navigation arrows (NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, and SE) are available around the edge of the image. You can also click on the "compass" on the left hand side.
    • Clicking on a link under Other Imagery: will switch to the new image in the same resolution as the current image in most cases. Previously we always switched to 16 meters per pixel. There are occasions when will change the resolution to 16 meters, e.g. when crossing UTM zone boundaries.
    • The Image View: dropdown control offers "Topo Map" when viewing 1 meter aerial imagery, and "Aerial Photo" when viewing 128 meter resolution topo map. When switching to "Topo Map" view from 1 meter aerial imagery, the system will switch you to 2 meter topo map. And when switching to Aerial Photo view from 128 meter resolution, the system will automatically switch you to 64 meter resolution.
  2. Address Image Display Page:
    • All of the above changes to the Image Display Page have been incorporated on the Address Display Page -- navigation arrows, sticking with the same resolution when switching to other imagery, and automatically changing resolutions when switching views.
    • Resolution scales have been added to the Address Image page.
    • A World File is available at the bottom of the "Related Links:" section. Click on GIS World Coordinates to get a World File for the image displayed on Address Image Display Page.
  3. Print Page:
    • Resolution scales have been added to the bottom of the print page.
    • A size link appears at the top of the page next to the "Back to Microsoft Research Maps" link. It toggles between "8.5 x 11 Print Size" (the default) and "11 x 17 Print Size" for those users who have a larger printer.
    • The blue background in the copyright area has been removed from the page.
  4. About: Navigating Microsoft Research Maps: Describes how to use the new interface.

Many thanks to our users for your suggestions on improving Microsoft Research Maps! Please let us know if there is any other changes we should make with an e-mail to Microsoft Research Maps.

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New Microsoft Research Maps User Interface

The Microsoft Research Maps User Interface has had a makeover. The new design is in keeping with the latest look of MSN web properties. Gone is the "graph paper background" where we placed our imagery. The new interface places imagery on a plain white background with a light blue border. Below is a complete list of the user interface changes and new functionality available in this release:

  • New Navigation Controls

    The navigation controls on the image page have been re-organized. Previously, the pan, zoom, change map view, etc. tools had been scattered around the page. When viewing large images, you would often need to scroll the browser's window in order to find the pan East, SouthEast, South, or SouthWest buttons. In the new interface, a compass control on the left side of the page has replaced the pan arrows around the image. Directly above the compass is control to change the map view between available styles such as Aerial Photo or Topo Map. Below the compass is the resolution of the current image measured in meters per pixel.

    The zoom control appears directly beneath the resolution description. On the left is the zoom out by 2x control (-). On the right is the zoom in by 2x control (+). These controls will become gray when have either zoomed all the way or all the way out. The blue rectangles between the zoom out and zoom in buttons can be clicked to directly jump out or in by several zoom levels. The resolution you are jumping to will be displayed in a tooltip when you hover your mouse over the rectangles. The yellow rectangle identifies the current selected zoom level.

    Below the zoom controls is a dropdown selection tool for picking the size of the image. Three sizes are available: Small (400 x 200), Medium (600 x 400) and Large (800 x 600). By default, the Medium image size is displayed.

  • New Toolbar

    Near the top of each Microsoft Research Maps web page is "file folder looking" graphic with Microsoft Research Maps displayed on the left and several icons displayed on the right. This is the Microsoft Research Maps toolbar. On image display pages, the toolbar lists the functions you can request when viewing an image -- Advanced Find, Info (about the image), Download (a free copy), E-Mail (a link to the Microsoft Research Maps web page), and Help (using Microsoft Research Maps), and Home Advisor (access the Home Advisor web site). This same toolbar is displayed on the Image Info and Download page. So now you can quickly move between the image display page, Info, and Download without having to return to the Image display page.

    All other Microsoft Research Maps pages share a common toolbar containing -- Advanced Find, Famous Places, Web Services, About (Microsoft Research Maps), and Home Advisor. Note, Home Advisor is the web sponsor for Microsoft Research Maps. All homes listed on Home Advisor also link to Microsoft Research Maps.

  • New Address Search functionality

    Since October 2001, the Advanced Find link has offered the option of entering an address to locate an image. However, Microsoft Research Maps did not pin point the location of within the image. In the new release, we use the Microsoft Research Maps Map Server to center the address location in the image and display a pushpin icon (Address location in a Microsoft Research Maps image) at the location of address in the image. The pushpin will be also be displayed above the image next to the address you searched for. As you pan, zoom, change map view, the push pin will stay at the location. The pushpin may disappear if you pan too far. To jump back to the address location, click on the address located next to the Address location in a Microsoft Research Maps image above the image. The address acts as "bookmark" to the place you originally searched for.

    Because the Address image display uses the Microsoft Research Maps Map Server, the Info and Download links work a little differently. The image coordinates for the image will be drawn directly on the Address image. The Address image is a single image, thus it can be downloaded without clicking on the Download toolbar button.

  • TerraService Web Services integrated with Microsoft Research Maps web site

    For the last several years, we have supported a set of programmable Web Services that provide programmatic access to the Microsoft Research Maps imagery database. The Web Services were available from a separate web site at http://TerraService.net. With this release, the Web Services functionality has been integrated directly into the Microsoft Research Maps end user web site. Users can access either the main end user web site at http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com or the Web Service site at http://TerraService.net. The functionality is the same at both sites.

  • New E-Mail Link

    When viewing an image, click the E-Mail toolbar icon and Microsoft Research Maps will launch your e-mail program and insert a link to the image in the web page. You can additional text to the message and send when you are done editing.

  • Improved Print Page

    The new Print page fits on a single print page regardless of the size of the image you were viewing on Microsoft Research Maps. The print page has links at the top that will send the page to your printer or return to the Microsoft Research Maps without printing.

  • No more Relief Imagery

    With the new release, we have discontinued access to the Encarta world relief image. This fall, we plan to add a higher resolution shaded relief image of the United States.

Let us know how you like the new interface at e-mail Microsoft Research Maps.

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Find Imagery by Address

Microsoft Research Maps now supports finding imagery by entering a U.S. Street address or by entering a Place name like Chicago, Yosemite National Park, or Lake Mead. To search by address, click the Advanced Find link found in the Microsoft Research Maps toolbar at the top of every page. The Advanced Find page has been re-organized into four sections:

  • Address Search - search for a specific address by street, city, state, and zip code
  • Place Type Search - search for a specific place type by name, state, or country
  • Geographic Coordinate Search - search by longitude and latitude expressed in degrees minutes and seconds
  • Decimal (Geo) Coordinate Search - search by longitude and latitude express in positive or negative floating point number

The Address Search page allows you to enter in the any combination of Street, City, State or Zip code. At this time, only U.S. Street addresses are supported. Successful searches return a list of up to name addresses that match the selection criteria and we have an image of the location. The list is similar to the list returned by the Place Name search.

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Welcome ADIC as a Microsoft Research Maps Project Partner

We welcome Advanced Digital Information Corporation (ADIC) to the Microsoft Research Maps project team! This summer, Compaq, Veritas, and Microsoft worked closely with ADIC on evaluating ADIC's Scalar 1000 tape library using LTO (Linear Tape Open) media. Our database has grown from three-quarters of a tera-byte to over 3 tera-bytes of imagery in the last 3 years. We have unfortunately out grown the capabilities of our StorageTek 9710 tape library with DLT (Digital Linear Tape) media.

DLT media can natively store 35 GB of data or 70 GB compressed. Microsoft Research Maps imagery data does not compress very well. Thus our larger databases were requiring as many as 40 tapes for a single backup. Unfortunately, it became impossible to house 3 backup cycles of our 3 1+ terabyte databases. In addition, we moved from a single server configuration to a multi-server cluster configuration. Our StorageTek robot was a direct-attached model and could not easily migrate to a Storage Area Network environment. Thus we began a search for new technology.

We installed an ADIC Scalar 1000 tape library with 4 LTO drives and 188 tape slots. LTO media can natively store 100 GB or 200 GB compressed. Thus we are able to backup our 1+ terabyte database to 12 tapes for a single backup versus 40. In addition, we found that the LTO drives can backup data at a rate of 9.8 MB per second per drive versus 4.7 MB of data per second per drive on the DLT drives. Thus, we can complete our backups in the same amount of time with less the half the number of drives!

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SPIN-2 Imagery Status (September 1, 2001)

The SPIN-2 Satellite Imagery web site, terraserver.com had been out of service from March 14, 2000 until now. The terraserver.com has returned to limited operation. As yet, SPIN-2 has not made available linking information to their restored imagery. When it does, we will cross-index our site to the terraserver.com site as we previously done. Until then, you will have to access terraserver.com web site directly in order to find SPIN-2, OrbImage, and Space Imaging images.

Microsoft Research Maps and Aerial Images' terraserver.com web sites have been cross-indexed since January 2000. Microsoft Research Maps hosts USGS aerial imagery and topographic maps. Aerial Images hosted SPIN-2, OrbImage, and Space Imaging satellite imagery. All references on Microsoft Research Maps to data hosted at terraserver.com have been disabled. Thus, the red areas on the Microsoft Research Maps coverage map have been removed, and place name searches no longer find imagery that was hosted at terraserver.com.

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Home Advisor to host Microsoft Research Maps (February 23, 2001)

As of February 23, 2001, the Microsoft Research Maps web site is hosted by the Home Advisor group within the Microsoft Network (MSN). Microsoft Research Maps had been hosted by the Microsoft Encarta Online group since March 1999.

Microsoft Research Maps will continue to host and display US Geological Survey aerial imagery and topographical maps as before. In addition, the Home Advisor team will be making making enhancements to integrate the Microsoft Research Maps and Home Advisor web sites. Currently when your are browsing Microsoft Research Maps, you will see a list of links which will perform custom queries on the Home Advisor web site tailored to the area you are viewing on Microsoft Research Maps. The custom queries identify homes for same and demographic information for specific zip code areas.

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Upgraded Platform Establishes New Standard for Web Services

On November 20, 2000 the Microsoft Research Maps doubled its capacity and performance by moving to an upgraded hardware and software platform, establishing a new standard for building highly available web services.

The heart of Microsoft Research Maps is the image and map database storage, using Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. This database runs on a four-node Windows 2000 DataCenter cluster, built around Compaq ProLiant 8500 servers and an 18 terabyte Compaq StorageWorks triple-mirrored disk array.

Read all about the new platform in Technology About the Site.

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New Microsoft Research Maps .NET Web Service Enables Next Generation Applications

The Microsoft Research Maps is now offering a beta version of  new .NET Web service, called MSR Maps Service, that allows developers to easily integrate Microsoft Research Maps data into their own applications. MSR Maps Service is a programmable interface to Microsoft Research Maps's online database of high resolution USGS aerial imagery (DOQs) and scanned USGS topographical maps (DRGs). This service uses the Microsoft .NET framework, the platform for next generation distributed, Web applications. The Microsoft .NET framework enables developers to create programs that transcend device boundaries and fully harness the connectivity of the Internet. Discover how you can use TerraService to build your own next generation application.

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New Image Download Application

The Download function has been totally changed. Previously, Microsoft Research Maps downloaded a small application to your computer system. The application created a single Jpeg file out of the set of Microsoft Research Maps tiles you were viewing on a web page. Unfortunately, the download application did not run on Macintosh computers, older Windows systems, and some Unix platforms.

The new Download function creates a single Jpeg file on Microsoft Research Maps computers. An application program is no longer downloaded. To copy the Jpeg file to your computer, simply right-click on the image, and select "Save Picture As" or "Save Image As" function provided by your web browser. Macintosh users must hold the mouse button down for a few seconds before the "Save Image As" pop-up menu appears.

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USGS Stream Gauge Links

The US Geological Survey maintains on-line links to approximately 4,900 stream flow gauging stations. The stream flow data is typically updated once per day. When you are viewing topographical maps or aerial imagery on Microsoft Research Maps, a link to one or more of the USGS on-line stream flow gauging stations may appear on the left hand side of the image page. When you click on the link, a new window will be opened containing the stream flow information.

The topographic map of Hannibal, Missouri contains a link to the a stream gauge on the Mississippi River. Clicking on the Mississippi R at Hannibal, MO link under the "USGS Stream Gauge: " sub-title will take you to the stream gauge on-line web page.

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Learn About Map Making and Aerial Photographs

Don't know a DOQ from a DEM? Learn all about map making, aerial photographs and geography in our new section Geographic Glossary and Tutorials, with extensive information from Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia and the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Microsoft Research Maps Developers Receive Prestigious Award

Tom Barclay and Dr. James Gray of Microsoft's Bay Area Research Center were jointly presented the Year 2000 John Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey, for their outstanding work on Microsoft Research Maps.

The Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the USGS mission, and is the most prestigious award given to non-USGS employees. The Award is name for John Wesley Powell, the famed explorer and distinguished scientist who served as the second Director of the USGS. Read more about the award.

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Lights Out for the AlphaServer

Thanks for making Microsoft Research Maps one of the most popular sites on the Internet! The original Microsoft Research Maps platform, built on a Digital AlphaServer 8400, went live on the Internet in June 1998. With a few tears we will turn the lights out on the AlphaServer in December 2000. Over two years and six months, Microsoft Research Maps was visited by 40 million users, delivered 700 million HTML pages and billions of image tiles...over 50 terabytes of data!

We made a decision to relocate and build a new Microsoft Research Maps because we ran out of room in our data center and couldn't even add a new rack of disks, let alone a new server. Thanks to Compaq, we're now running on entirely new hardware including database servers, disk storage, web servers, network equipment—the whole shebang. The new system is better in every way—faster, more capacity and more reliable.

Microsoft Research Maps began as a joint research project to see if a relational database management system could have the stamina to manage terabytes of data in a 24 hour by 7 day a week environment. We believe that we've achieved every goal established for the project, despite many people who said we were crazy! We proved that Microsoft SQL Server was up to the challenge.

Our original goals didn't include building a highly available system, but we achieved a remarkable record. Over two and a half years, Microsoft Research Maps has only been unavailable for a total of two days.

Microsoft Research Maps started out with 750 GB of imagery, and during the first year added another 250 GB. The second year, we reorganized the database, added another terabyte of imagery, and a second database server containing USGS topographic maps. In early April 2000, we completely filled up our database server — 2.6 TB of user data in 3.0 TB of database!

It is amazing to watch how fast the hardware and software technology is evolving. Our 20-feet long by 8-feet high rack of equipment was the state-of-the-art when we received it in December 1997. It is being replaced by an 4-node cluster with four times the disk capacity that fits into one-third the space.

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The Microsoft Research Maps team welcomes your comments. You can write us at MSRMaps2010@hotmail.com.

 

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