Computerworld - Redfin Inc. said today that the relaunched version of its online real estate Web site is almost five times faster, in part because it switched from mainly using maps from Microsoft Corp.'s Virtual Earth to exclusively using those from Google Inc.

In the Seattle-based company's blog, Michael Young, chief technology officer, wrote that Internet Explorer 6 users downloading a map with 500 pushpins, each denoting a potential home, would be able to see the map 385% faster.

Firefox 3 users experience a threefold boost in speed with Redfin's maps, as do IE 7 users, Young wrote. While praising both Virtual Earth and Google as "solid choices," Young said "in the end, it was speed, speed, speed that convinced us to switch.

"Users who come to Redfin's site now should see maps load and render just a little bit quicker, which makes us feel a little Googley inside," he wrote.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Redfin was using a mix of Microsoft and Google maps, though it had been primarily using Virtual Earth since 2006, Young wrote. At the time, Google Maps was "faster out of the box but slower once we started drawing on it, especially on IE 6." The news was first reported by TechFlash.com.

The online mapping space is a highly competitive one. As of October, Google remains second to MapQuest.com overall among U.S. end users, followed by Yahoo Maps as third and Microsoft's Live Maps/Virtual Earth a distant fourth, according to Hitwise.com data.

However, according to investment bank Cowen and Company LLC, as cited by Search Engine Land, Google and Microsoft are rolling out more features than Yahoo and MapQuest, and are the only choices for programmers deciding upon which online map to base their Web 2.0 sites.

Google gained momentum two months ago with the launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite, which will provide superior-resolution satellite photos of the Earth to U.S. defense agencies and in the commercial space, exclusively to Google.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth, however, appears to have a larger archive of overhead photos taken by airplane, which are far superior in clarity and size than satellite photos.

Read more about networking and internet in Computerworld's Networking and Internet Knowledge Center.

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