Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday introduced a beta version of Windows Live Local, its latest interactive search and mapping tool. The service offers localized online capabilities including multiple aerial vantage points, driving directions and customizable maps.

The product will be available for download first thing Thursday morning.

"This is the first Windows Live service released since November 1," said Tom Bailey, Director of Marketing for MSN.

"We have the best online mapping experience," he said. "For the first time, people will be able to see the Pictometry International partnership imagery, adding 'bird's eye' [45-degree-angled] view to the top-down, 'air conditioner' view."

Pictometry International signed a five-year agreement with Microsoft in May to provide existing and new nationwide aerial images for Virtual Earth and other MapPoint products.

When within a map where a 45-degree angle view is available, a message will appear stating "there is bird's eye imagery available for this location." Once in the bird's eye view, users can change their angle of viewing from north to south, east or west.

"You can add a pushpin to a specific location to annotate it—park here, the front door is here, start here or end there, etc. It integrates local search. You may customize the print page with the items you would like, and e-mail or IM the search results through unique URLs," Bailey said.

The technology has an open API, the company said, increasing Microsoft's trend towards allowing developers to embed Microsoft technologies into their applications. However, there is a stipulation: there is completely unrestricted use for non-commercial sites, but commercial sites must include the "where" search aspect into their pages.

A beta version of Virtual Earth was released in July, touting satellite views on full-bleed maps, multiple local search capabilities in a single view and the ability to store specific results in a Scratchpad for later use. Unlike Microsoft Live Local, Virtual Earth did not integrate driving directions, leaving users to follow a link over to MSN Maps to acquire this type of information.

"[Microsoft Live Local] seems like another incremental improvement to Microsoft's overall search and mapping product set," Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rossoff told Microsoft Watch.

"What has happened is that MSN Search Local is a service that had launched in the summer, and they decided to take that investment and move it into Windows Live. Basically, it continues to update their products."

Virtual Earth seems to be progressing on Microsoft's stated schedule of updates every four months. The company announced in July its intentions to add bird's eye Pictometry imagery this fall.

Microsoft's Local group is part of Search, within the Platform & Services division that includes Windows, MSN and Windows Live. Windows Live Local is part of the Windows Live Family.

Are there too many competing but similar products crowding Microsoft's search offerings in this space? Is this confusing to the average user? One analyst thinks so.

"…My problem with the product today is that there so many branded products that do so many overlapping things—Virtual Earth, Local Search, MSN Maps and Directions, MapPoint, and so on. Part of this is the transition from MSN to Microsoft Live," Rossoff said.

"With Google, in contrast, you go to local.google.com and it's all there. Microsoft's next step needs to be consolidation," he continued.

Microsoft Live Local's full feature set works only in major metropolitan areas of the United States, expanding in the coming months to Canada, the United Kingdom and other areas.

"Once we expand into more areas—some time in 2006—we may take the Beta moniker off the product," Bailey said.