SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google and Microsoft are battling anew for online travelers with rival Internet mapping services that provide vivid real-world views of major US cities.
Google Maps and Earth on Tuesday debuted Street View, a feature that gives pedestrian-eye looks at parts of San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, and renowned technology Mecca Silicon Valley in northern California.
Street View "will soon be expanded to other metropolitan areas," according to director of Google Earth and Maps, John Hanke.
"With Street View users can virtually walk the streets of a city, check out a restaurant before arriving, and even zoom in on bus stops and street signs to make travel plans," Hanke said in a blog posting at the Google website.
The same day, Microsoft Live Search Maps began offering three-dimensional, photo-realistic views of cities "with perspectives that few people apart from Superman have ever seen."
Microsoft said its map service provides "birds-eye" views of cities in Britain, Canada, and the United States and will expand to include more cities worldwide by the end of summer.
The free Microsoft maps come with services for finding businesses, reviews and directions. Microsoft's Live Maps already incorporates street-level imagery into its service.
Camera icons on Google's map of the United States indicate places where online visitors can zoom in and explore city streets complete with traffic, people and 360-degree panoramic views.
The static street scenes are seamless compilations of photographs, prompting some concerns about privacy because people, homes and cars are clearly caught in the images.
"Google takes concerns about its services very seriously," the Mountain View, California, company maintains in an online tutorial with an Internet link "to report concerns about an inappropriate street view."
Street Views includes looks at Google's address in Mountain View and glimpses of Stanford University where the co-founders of the world's most popular online search engine were students.