Mapping That Puts You There

Microsoft's 3-D feature takes a lot more work to try, unfortunately. It requires you to install a plug-in for your browser -- Internet Explorer or Firefox for Windows XP or newer only -- and also demands a reasonably powerful graphics card with the right driver software already on board.

That software was absent on my machine (something I had to guess from a vague error message displayed after the first install attempt failed), and so I had to find the right driver off Dell's site, install that, restart, and then try the 3-D software install again.

Microsoft's installer compounded the annoyance of this procedure by trying to change Internet Explorer's home page and search-engine settings.

This plug-in software eventually worked, providing that Superman (or perhaps Spider-Man) feeling of swooping over Manhattan. But the entire computer ran as if concrete were clogging its gears anytime I tried switching among open applications.

Both of these new features make the other big mapping sites, Yahoo Maps and AOL's MapQuest, look sorely out of date. And though both can provide a crowd-pleasing demonstration, they have legitimately practical uses. Even overhead satellite views can't suffice to show you what the view might be like from a given house location, or how pleasant the walk might be to a nearby restaurant or shop.

Google and Microsoft's competitors will have to offer something comparable to stay relevant. The competition between these two rivals, meanwhile, can only get more interesting -- which one will be the first to provide some of these new viewing options on a cellphone or, better yet, on a car's navigation screen?

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com.