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Microsoft yesterday revealed that they had purchased Caligari, a developer of 3D modeling software:
Microsoft has bought Caligari, a developer of 3D modeling software, in a move that could help enrich the graphics experience in Microsoft’s Virtual Earth mapping system.
Caligari started making 3D modeling and animation software for the Amiga computer in the mid-1980s. Its signature tool, called trueSpace, has a user interface that makes it easy to build complex 3D animations, according to an entry on the Virtual Earth blog on Wednesday announcing the acquisition.
Terms were not specified.
Last week Microsoft acquired Multimap, an online mapping firm based in the UK:
Microsoft Corp. has acquired Multimap, one of the United Kingdom’s top 100 technology companies and one of the leading online mapping services in the world. The acquisition gives Microsoft a powerful new location and mapping technology to complement existing offerings such as Virtual Earth, Live Search, Windows Live services, MSN and the aQuantive advertising platform, with future integration potential for a range of other Microsoft products and platforms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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One of the best-known online mapping companies worldwide, Multimap provides a publicly available personal mapping service at http://www.multimap.com, as well as a range of integrated business services.
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Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search teams in the Online Services Group. The acquisition is the latest in a series of moves as Microsoft seeks to expand its online services to deliver software, services, and premium content and applications to consumers and businesses.
No price tag was announced, Rhys Blakely at The Times suggest it was $50 million. It could well be a technology buy, but as Lewis Page observes at The Register, “it’s relatively difficult (for users, anyway) to see all that much difference between Multimap’s technology and Microsoft’s existing offerings. Redmond would seem to be buying Multimap’s users rather than its platform.”
Back in September, Microsoft unveiled some Live Search improvements at its Searchification event, but apparently that wasn’t all they had up their sleeve as today they announced more Live Search enhancements, directed mostly at local and mobile searchers.
Microsoft Corp. today announced U.S. availability of Virtual Earth™ 3D, a new online mapping interface that is part of the Live Search offering, providing consumers with a three-dimensional experience to search, browse and explore the real world online.
When people visit Live Search (http://live.com), type a query into the search bar and click on the “maps” tab, they get their search results in a map context that offers the option to explore the area using two-dimensional views (aerial and bird’s-eye) or three dimensional models with Virtual Earth 3D. This new technology compiles photographic images of cities and terrain to generate textured, photorealistic 3-D models with engineering level accuracy.
Three-dimensional models are available initially for 15 U.S. cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and Fort Worth. Terrain imagery in 3-D is available globally, and Microsoft expects to offer 3-D imagery in an ever expanding set of cities. Other features provided by Live Search include access to real-time traffic information in select major U.S. cities, and access to business listings “yellow pages” and people listings “white pages” that allows consumers to easily find local information and act on it.
The shareholders will also be relieved by this part:
Advertisements will be available within the Virtual Earth 3D experience. Similar to billboards on the side of roads, virtual billboards will be available throughout Live Search in the 3-D view. The ads available within the Virtual Earth 3D experience are created using a combination of technologies from Virtual Earth, Massive Inc. technology, and the advertising platform from Microsoft® Digital Advertising Solutions.
I guess I’d have to see one, but it’s the thought of monetization that counts.
The press release also mentions that Virtual Earth APIs are available at no cost for use by Web developers – there are more technical details at the Windows Live Dev blog.
