Webware 100 winner: Live Search Maps

Site: Maps.live.com
Category: Location-based services

Live Search Maps is Microsoft's online mapping service. Users can look up a location by address and get directions, complete with recent traffic reports that can change its estimation of how long it will take. It also uses a technology called ClearFlow that anticipates traffic based on past history of backups at specific times and dates.

Live Search maps was one of the first services to offer 3D views of certain buildings, and now has close to 70 of them. To see these maps in the browser, users must install a special plug-in. The service was also the first to offer a second set of aerial imagery at an oblique angle instead of from directly above. This lets users see certain topography, especially hilly cities a whole new way.