Thanks to Microsoft's significant investments in Bing Maps imagery, the Bing Maps platform became a powerful & comprehensive mapping platform. That's why OnTerra Systems chose to base its MapSavvy web map service on Bing Maps.
With image refreshes regularly coming online for Bing Maps, which can be obtained through MapSavvy, we thought it would be interesting to explain how aerial imagery is captured and the evolution of this web mapping platform.
Bing Maps Imagery Evolution
The Bing Maps aerial imagery web mapping service offers detailed aerial views worldwide.
As web maps and aerial imaging originally came online, it was often a grouping of satellite & aerial imagery patched together — with wide variances in the vintage, quality, clarity & detail of the imagery.
In 2010, Microsoft launched its "Global Ortho" program, with the goal of providing 30cm Bing Maps imagery worldwide. Since then, the Microsoft Bing Maps team has worked to capture & publish updated imagery with consistent clarity & coverage.
Types of Bing Maps Ortho Imagery
Ortho Imagery — Ortho imagery are photos of a geographic area that are geometrically corrected so they become usable as a map. Ortho imagery is most commonly used in geographic information systems to create maps.
Hybrid Imagery — Ortho imagery plus road data, created in a process that combines the base ortho imagery with road and label layers.
How Aerial Imagery Is Captured
Technology is changing at the speed of light, especially in the area of aerial imagery capture. Historically, most web mapping imagery was from satellites. More recently, aerial images are mostly from fixed-wing aircraft (planes) with cameras attached to the bottom of the plane. Helicopters and drones are also being used to help with capture.
Types of aerial imagery capture methods:
- Satellites
- Planes
- Helicopters
- Drones (for lower-altitude image capture)
How MapSavvy Ties to Bing Maps
MapSavvy is OnTerra System's web mapping service, and it's based on Bing Maps imagery. As a result, MapSavvy offers a variety of "vintages" of aerial imagery, which is helpful in showing "Before-After" comparisons of changes to a specific geographic area.
MapSavvy is also one of the most affordable web map services on the market today, with a subscription starting point of just $999 per year for up to 40,000 WMS requests. OnTerra Systems is a long-time Microsoft partner with its own Bing Maps license. OnTerra Systems offers these low starting price points by buying access to Bing Maps imagery using its partner license, and then parsing the transactions into smaller bundles. This approach is helpful for small to mid-sized businesses, cost-conscious government agencies & cash-strapped research teams that need access to aerial imagery to do their jobs.
If you need access to new Bing Maps imagery at an affordable price, give MapSavvy from OnTerra Systems a try. We offer a free 14-day trial, or contact us for more information.