Two interesting things have been confirmed in the blog post Next Version of Virtual Earth is indeed around the corner.
The first is that MSN Virtual Earth is getting renamed to Windows Live
Local. The second is that the version I've been using internally that
has better driving directions and birds eye view imagery will be
shipping shortly. The post states
We've been working to address a lot of feature requests from our users, and
personally I'm really happy with how the application has shaped up. Here is a blurb
in The Kelsey Group's Local Media Blog about the forthcoming release. Greg
Sterling correctly reports that Virtual Earth has become part of the Windows
Live Family and will be known as Windows Live Local (WLL). WLL was first shown
at the press launch event for Windows Live last month. Greg's comments are based
on a presentation MSN Local Search General Manager Erik Jorgensen gave at
Kelsey's ILM Conference
last week. As part of Erik's presentation he demoed the release build of
Windows Live Local. Keep your eyes open - you should be able to start enjoying
features like Birds Eye imagery and User pushpins in just a few
days.
The screenshots show the bird's eye imagery and as you can see, it is quite sweet. I can't wait for this to ship.