Virtual Earth to Power EPA Mapping Applications

Published: September 19, 2007

by Alex Woodie

The Environmental Protection Agency will use Microsoft's Virtual Earth software to develop new geospatial and mapping applications, Microsoft announced last week. The software will be used for a range of purposes, including monitoring superfund sites, oil spills, waterways, and beach water quality.

Microsoft cited several features in Virtual Earth that made the product attractive to the EPA, including the capability to offer developers the ability to work with satellite, aerial, oblique, and 3-D imagery of the Earth, and its unique "bird's eye" view, which tilts the imagery at a 45-degree angle.

"Before we selected Microsoft’s Web-based Virtual Earth, the EPA relied on more expensive and cumbersome desktop applications," said Pat Garvey, manager of the Facility Registry System at the EPA. "Our goal was to provide our customers a consistent, richer user experience. We can do that with Virtual Earth because its performance and imagery make it easy for us to focus on our core environmental-data and mission applications."

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