Earlier this week Josh posted about how Bing is integrating geotagged Flickr photos almost seamlessly into its streetview maps. You have to see it to believe it. As this TED talk starring Blaise Aguera y Arcas (below) demonstrates, that functionality is really just the tip of the iceberg.
There’s also a Local Lens app for a visual view of hyperlocal stories (the difficulty in getting this right is illustrated with Capitol Hill stories provided by Cap to the Hill, Seattlest, and Beacon Hill Blog, with no Slog or Capitol Hill Seattle).
In the video, there’s a breathtaking use of live streaming 4G to integrate a video of a Bing Maps team down at Pike Place Market into the view of Pike Place Market that Aguera y Arcas is showing the TED audience.
That leads us to Liquid Galaxy, where Google’s Jason Holt turns Google Earth’s 3D view into a flying carpet ride. When you step inside an interactive booth wrapped by LCD screens, you get the immersive experience (I got vertigo just watching the video) of traveling through space–in the air, at ground level, and even below water (the video below takes you for a dip in Monterey Bay).
