Virtual Earth Goes To Russia

Curious about what big cities are in the Chechnya region of Russia or what exactly constitutes its Golden Ring? Soon you might not have to contemplate a trip there to find out, but tap the Internet to get a bird’s eye view of the major cities in this sweeping country.

According to a report on the Russian-InfoCentre Web site, Microsoft has been in talks with two Russian companies to make the Russian territories part of its Virtual Earth project. Microsoft Virtual Earth, a competitor to Google Earth, is aiming to one up its competitor by providing full 3D models of Russia’s large cities and territories. The companies are talking about using high-performance hardware for a digital air survey as well as automatically generating textured 2D models of buildings and other structures.