How to Travel Virtually to the Space Needle in Microsoft Virtual Earth

If you are thinking of travelling to the Space Needle in Seattle, WA, or have been there before and would just like to take a walk down memory lane, have a look at it in Microsoft Virtual Earth. Once you're there, you can look all around in different locations as though you are there, in full 3D. Find out how!

EditSteps

1. 1
   Go to maps.live.com and install Virtual Earth. Depending on your browser, you will either be automatically prompted to download the installer, or this prompt will occur when you click on "3D." The install shouldn't take longer than a few minutes.
   
   
   

    It's all good if you want to just run the installer on download
2. 2
   Familiarize yourself with the controls. Once your install is complete, you'll see the below-depicted pop-up. Be sure to note that the easiest way to navigate Virtual Earth in 3D is by controlling tilt using the "Control" key.
   
   
   
3. 3
   Locate the Space Needle within Seattle. This can be done by zooming in manually with your mousewheel / a series of zoom clicks, or more quickly (but maybe it's less fun) by simply typing "Space Needle" in the Live Search bar.
4. 4
   Toggle 3D mode.
   
   
   
5. 5
   Zoom in on the Space Needle, getting as close to the roof as possible. You want to create the viewpoint of a tourist on the observation deck.
   
   
   

    Are you afraid of heights? No worries.
6. 6
   Tilt the overhead persective so you start seeing a three-dimensional view of downtown Seattle. This is most easily done with the controls depicted in Step 2; hold down the "Ctrl" key + your left mouse button, and begin altering the perspective/tilt by moving your mouse up/down and left/right. As in the overhead view, the mouse wheel will control your distance from the Earth's virtual surface. Tilt controls can also be accessed by pushing the relevant buttons in the Virtual Earth map window.
7. 7
   Scope out the best bird's eye view from atop the Space Needle you can. If you arrived at the Space Needle by zooming vertically straight down upon it, you may need to click+drag around the map to get your viewpoint back above the structure after you've begun playing with the tilt angle. In these two photos, you will see how a properly-placed viewpoint in Virtual Earth matches an actual photo taken from the Space Needle on a recent visit.
   
   Virtual against Actual:
   
   

    A view looking southeast into downtown Seattle using Virtual Earth
   
   
   
   
   

    A photo view looking southeast into downtown Seattle taken from the observation deck

EditTips

• Installation will differ slightly if you're not using Microsoft Internet Explorer. As you can see, there are a couple of additional things you might need to do unpacked from Step 1.
  

   A slightly different-looking install for non-IE browsers
• These steps pertain specifically to the Space Needle as a fun illustration of the 3D modeling available in Microsoft Virtual Earth. Have a blast replicating viewpoints from other places, but keep in mind that the number of modeled structures is still limited to select locations in the United States.

EditWarnings

• Microsoft Virtual Earth is still a software beta, so keep in mind that the typical rules around installing beta software on your browser/machine will apply.
• Installing Microsoft Virtual Earth has the possibility of doing a couple of things to your default options. Be very careful to only leave selected changes to options upon the final install screen which you'd like to see changed in line with the Virtual Earth install package. Here is a look at what will change if you choose not to deselect the check boxes:
  
  
  

   It's cool if you don't want your default options altered, just deselect a couple of things
• The install automatically places a shortcut on your desktop. Deleting this shortcut won't alter the install of the application plugin, so be sure to access the uninstaller within the Windows Control Panel if you wish to remove the app.

EditThings You'll Need

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, or the Windows Vista operating system
• A video card with 32 MB or greater video memory that is compatible with Microsoft DirectX 9.
• Hardware acceleration must be set to Full.