Enter a location into the toolbar and it takes you there, filling your browser window with overhead photos or street maps from the server you prefer.
The toolbar works with open source image server modules that allow you to automatically utilize a variety of image servers. Pan and zoom to see almost any place on the planet using satellite imagery or street maps.
In the example we've zoomed into Rome to see the Colosseum.
This is a public beta release for 32-bit IE versions. 64-bit Windows systems allow you to launch IE in either 32-bit or x64 versions. Use the 32-bit IE choice to use the toolbar.
Addresses: Enter a street address in the address box and press Enter or press Go. Partial addresses (city, state) are usually OK. In most countries outside the US street addresses won't work: you'll usually need to enter a city name and country. You can use:
Multiple Hits: The toolbar will try to show as many "hits" as a location returns. Entering "Paris" will show pushpins for towns worldwide called "Paris." Entering "Paris, USA" will show pushpins for towns in the US called "Paris." Virtual Earth recognizes region names, but if you enter "Florida, USA" you'll find that there are many towns in the US called "Florida" which will show up as pushpins instead of showing the state of Florida. Entering just "Florida" finds the various places around the world called "Florida."
Navigation: Click and drag the view with the mouse. To zoom in and out, use the scroll wheel on your mouse. Many locations in the world have incredible resolution, where individual people can be seen from space!
Menus: Use the pull-down menus from the manifold.net button to change options, such as which image server is being used. Virtual Earth is built in. The menu also will list any other image server modules you have installed.
Views: Street map views can be barren in some parts of the world. Change from street map view to satellite image view by changing the server from "Virtual Earth Street Map Image" to "Virtual Earth Satellite Image." If you have other image server modules installed you'll have other image servers to choose from. Different image servers can give better resolution in some areas.
Push Pin: A push pin marks the address or location specified. Hover the mouse over it to see an information readout. Hold the CTRL key down and double-click on the push pin to get rid of it. To get it back, repeat the search.
See real estate and famous addresses, like the Malibu home at right!
Proxy Servers: The toolbar automatically detects proxy settings when Virtual Earth modules are used. If your Internet connection uses a proxy server and you are working with image server modules other than Virtual Earth, take a moment to configure proxy settings in the toolbar's Options dialog.
Cache: The toolbar fetches image tiles to form the desired view. It automatically fetches higher or lower resolution tiles as needed. Tiles are saved in a cache folder on disk so that once fetched a particular view will display faster, even if the Internet connection is lost. You can choose the cache folder in the Options dialog. If you have Manifold System installed, the toolbar will automatically use the same cache folder so that downloaded tiles can be shared by either application. To save space on disk, delete some of the files in the cache folder every now and then (most people can run for years without worries about disk space used for cache). Cache is good - it makes your frequently-visited places appear much faster.
Red X and Missing Tiles: Not all image servers cover all parts of the Earth. Virtual Earth does a good job but in some parts of the world won't zoom in beyond a certain level, so you'll get blank tiles. If you get blank tiles from one image server, try a different image server. Tiles with a red X mean that image could not be fetched from the image server. This could mean an interruption in Internet service, a server that's too busy or no images available at that resolution for that place from that server. Sometimes servers are slow. Be patient as it may take some time when zooming in for higher resolution tiles to come into view.
To install a new image server module, place the DLL file for the module in the installation folder for the toolbar, which is C:\Program Files\Manifold Toolbar by default. The next time you launch IE, the toolbar will have the new image servers available.
The toolbar uses the Microsoft Virtual Earth geocoding service by default because Virtual Earth geocoding is fast and very cool. Other geocoding servers can be installed, just like installing an image server module. Any geocoding server module that conforms to the Manifold Geocoding Server interface will work.
Programmers interested in writing their own image server modules or their own geocoding server modules should read the interface specifications cited above and study the source code for existing third party image server modules, many of which have been published as open source projects. If you have the technical skills to work with open source projects, you know how to find them.
This product is not supported by manifold.net. Hey! It's free!
If you are into mapping and want an easy-to-use program that can create base maps of the United States or Europe and show things like customer locations or other simple business data, we recommend Microsoft's MapPoint product. It's easy to learn and works great. If you need more sophisticated capabilities, such as modifying maps or creating your own maps or linking them in sophisticated ways to data, then step up to Manifold System.
It only takes a couple of days of study for the average Windows power user to learn Manifold, yet the package is so powerful that it is the first choice for GIS professionals and enterprise users as well. If your organization has been spending too much money on old fashioned GIS packages, take a look at Manifold as your path to modern GIS.