kimopupule July 28, 2006 at 4:04 am

Honestly, I didn’t know how to react when I saw it. I found it sort of ironic because I was complaining about my iPod and then.. voiila, a Microsoft SUV!

I don’t know much about what the vans are used for.. can you shed some light on ’em for me?

Darren Straight July 28, 2006 at 11:03 pm

They are used for taking street side imagery or cities, in this case yours.

The imagery taken will be used for this site: http://preview.local.live.com/

Check it out you\’ll enjoy it! 😀

Inside Live » Blog Archive » SPOTTED! Windows Live Local Van July 31, 2006 at 10:44 am

[…] Cheers to Darren Straight’s site! (http://www.darrenstraight.com/blog/2006/07/27/facet-mobile360-van-used-for-windows-live-local-beta/) […]

Windows Live Local Beta Van spotted in Billings, Montana, US. » Darren Straight’s Blog August 15, 2006 at 1:27 am

[…] It’s been less than a month since I last blogged about somebody spotting the Facet Mobile360 Van used for the Windows Live Local Beta and well it looks like somebody has yet again spotted it on the road, this time by Trevor Manternach in Billings, Montana, USA who is of course another fellow Flickr user. […]

randzig » Blog Archive » Windows Live Local November 6, 2006 at 6:23 pm

[…] Yesterday I was standing on the street corner outside my work when a strange Tahoe (like the one pictured) drove by.  It said something like Facet on the side and I thought to myself,”thats a strange truck…and it says Facet.”  Then as it drove off I saw the Windows Live Local on the back and I knew what it was. […]

Maria Sanchez September 2, 2007 at 9:55 pm

Ijust saw the Tahoe for microsoft local live mobile360 here in Houston, cruising on Richmond St. I had asked my husband what it was, seeing as how it had all these cameras situated on top. I was like, “paparazzi, maybe?”. When we finally got close enough, we were able to read the lettering on the back doors and the side of the vehicle. It was a maroon suv, moving at maybe about 25-30mph, and we saw it around 1:40 or so in the afternoon today. Didn’t think of taking a picture of it though until it was too late. Ah well, at least maybe we can see ourselves or something.

Maria Sanchez September 2, 2007 at 9:57 pm

Check your time posting. I just finished posting a message and it says that I posted at 9:55pm when it was actually 3:55pm. About a six-hour difference.

Darren Straight September 3, 2007 at 2:00 am

Hey,

Thanks for your comment about your Windows Live Local Van spotting – always happy to know more cities and towns are being photographed! As for the time difference it’s because I’m in the UK and wordpress my blog system publisher is set to GMT Time so all comments and posts will appear as the time it is in the UK. There’s no way to change it so from whether you post comments in the world it sets the different times. But it’s probably best like that because if all the times were different the order of the comments would possible alter….

Anyhow thanks for letting me know and hey thanks for checking out my blog!

Best Regards,
Darren Straight
Microsoft Student Partner
http://www.darrenstraight.com/blog

Justin June 12, 2009 at 10:56 pm

Hey, i don’t know if you’re still monitoring the truck, but i saw a post about it on a different blog and came across your blog looking for more information on it. Here’s the link:

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/breaking_ground/2009/06/camera-laden_suv_mapping_dc_streets.html

They seem to say it’s for an in car navigation device?

Pretty neat stuff either way as i’m checking out the technology at the preview site you linked to earlier