Google Maps, Bing just one-upped you.
This past weekend, @shirleyc showed me an iPhone app called Gigwalk. I was blown away but how brilliant this move is by Bing.
Google uses the now-infamous street view cars equipped with expensive equipment that score the globe, taking pictures of locations. It was cool, and it’s become a staple of my map usage. How can a company compete with a fleet of Google cars? Easy, with people.
Gigwalk asks users to complete a series of simple tasks such as verifying locations still exist, or that the information is correct. It gets more complicated as the cornerstone (and quite frankly, killer feature) of Gigwalk is introduced: Microsoft’s Photosynth app.
A few years ago I watched in amazement a video about how Photosynth took a series of randomly-taken photographs and stitched it into an immersive and interactive image.
Bing entices users to take pictures of locations and restaurant interiors, as well as pictures from across the street. Inevitably these pictures will be stitched together as one huge immersive and interactive panoramic, taking into account the inherent randomness of a users photos (some will be closer than others, allowing Photosynth to work its magic.)
What’s more? Gigwalk will make its foray into shopping–do those jeans fit well?
