Editing Microsoft Research Maps (section)

{{Short description|Online repository of US aerial imagery}}
'''Microsoft Research Maps''' ('''MSR Maps''') was a free online repository of [[public domain]] [[aerial photography|aerial imagery]] and [[topographic map]]s provided by the [[United States Geological Survey]] (USGS). The site was a collaboration between [[Microsoft Research]] (MSR), [[Bing Maps]], and the USGS. It was in operation from June 1998 to March 2016. It had 30,000 to 50,000 visitors per day as of January 2010. The site was renamed in 2010, prior to which it had been known as '''TerraServer-USA'''<ref name="new name">[http://msrmaps.com/About.aspx?n=AboutWhatsNew&b=Newsite New Web Site Name] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209194823/http://msrmaps.com/About.aspx?n=AboutWhatsNew&b=Newsite |date=2010-02-09 }}. Microsoft Research Maps. January 30, 2010.</ref> (formerly '''Microsoft TerraServer''').

The site had black and white USGS aerial photographs of approximately 97% of the [[United States]]. In 2000, the USGS launched the new Urban Areas program, which will ultimately take high-resolution color aerial photographs of about 100 major American cities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eros.usgs.gov/ |title=USGS/EROS High Resolution Orthoimagery |access-date=2010-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106182554/http://eros.usgs.gov/#/Find_Data/Products_and_Data_Available/High_Resolution_Orthoimagery |archive-date=2010-01-06 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://orthoimagery.cr.usgs.gov/documents/listofHRO.php List of Areas with USGS High Resolution Orthoimagery] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100118162530/http://orthoimagery.cr.usgs.gov/documents/listofHRO.php |date=2010-01-18 }}</ref> MSR Maps had Urban Areas data for 40 cities.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

Microsoft had announced that the MSR Maps web site was going to permanently close on May 1, 2012,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://msrmaps.com/About.aspx?n=AboutShutdown | title = Microsoft Research Maps Web Site Shutting Down May 1, 2012 | publisher = Microsoft | year = 2012 | access-date = 2013-06-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130929213634/http://msrmaps.com/About.aspx?n=AboutShutdown | archive-date = 2013-09-29 | url-status = live }}</ref> but later changed that decision based on requests from users of the site.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.topofusion.com/news/2012/06/18/v4-6-msr-maps-will-remain-online/ | title = MSR Maps will remain online | website = [[TopoFusion]] | date = June 18, 2012 | access-date = 2013-06-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130315102122/http://www.topofusion.com/news/2012/06/18/v4-6-msr-maps-will-remain-online/ | archive-date = 2013-03-15 | url-status = live }}</ref> As of March 2016 the site is no longer available.