I can't tell you how many times I've used Google Street View to look for a specific storefront only to spend precious time fruitlessly clicking arrows and squinting at low-res zooms. I'd much rather use Microsoft's Street Slide, a new search tool that lets you quickly and easily see everything on an entire street, for several blocks, at once.
Now, instead of navigating a street in an inefficient, strobe-like way with those arrow buttons, you can use Street Slide to zoom way out and view one side of a street as a panorama. Since the street becomes a thin strip on your screen, there's room for store logos and addresses on the top and bottom, letting you quickly zero in on what you want. Checking out the other side of the street is as simple as one click, and you can turn down side streets easily, too.
This looks like an amazing upgrade to the Google Street View experience. But don't just take my word for it — the research group challenged 20 people to find a variety of places with either Street View or Street Slide. Those who used Street Slide found what they were looking for 17 seconds faster, on average. We can only hope Microsoft fast-tracks the development and release of this research project, so we can all enjoy the benefits.
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