Gadgetopia

Windows Live Local: I’ve been hearing a lot about Windows Live Local, but never knew quite what it was. Turns out it’s a lot like Google Maps, but with the twist of “Bird’s Eye View” images, which are at a 45-degree angle, not directly overhead.

This link will take you to a Bird’s Eye View of the famed Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles (where RFK was shot in 1968), which, sadly, is scheduled for demolition to build a high school (see this site). You can double-click to zoom in, and click the points of the compass to rotate around the building.

From an article at Internet News:

To date, Pictometry information is available for geographic areas accounting for about 25 percent of the U.S. population, including the greater metropolitan areas of Manhattan, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. MSN will continue to work with Pictometry to shoot more landscapes, with a focus on highly populated areas and tourist destinations such as Las Vegas, which already shows up in bird’s-eye view.

The isometric view is much more interesting than the direct overhead view, but I couldn’t figure out a way to get a permalink to stuff I found. I had a great view of the intersection of Frank Sinatra and Tropicana in Vegas (the southern boundary of The Strip), but I couldn’t see any way to send that view to anyone else (I suck, see the comments).