Niagara Falls

The Virtual Earth / Live Maps blog just pointed out how great Niagara Falls looks in Virtual Earth. I have to admit, it’s quite stunning. I thought I’d go a step further and compare it to the same shot in Google Earth.

As you’ll see, there is no comparison. I have to imagine that Microsoft has done a bit of hand-tweaking to make the falls look so good, while Google obviously has not. If they wanted, Microsoft could tweak little areas all over the world to create fake examples of how much better their product is. That being said, this isn’t even close. Virtual Earths imagery looks better, the altitude mesh is much more precise, and they have 3D buildings all around the area.

Here are the two programs side by side (click thumbnails for full-size images):

Niagara Falls in Virtual Earth (view in VE)

Niagara Falls in Google Earth (view in GE)