Bing Maps
Bing Maps is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps for Enterprise framework.
History
Bing Maps was originally launched as MSN Virtual Earth, which was released for beta testing on July 24, 2005. It was a continuation of previous Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft MapPoint and TerraServer. Its original stand out feature was the aerial imagery. The original version lacked many of its distinguishing features, including birds' eye view and 3D maps, and the Collections functionality was limited to a single "Scratchpad" of points of interest.In December 2005, Virtual Earth was replaced by Windows Live Local, featuring improvements, technologies from Pictometry International, and integrated with the Local Search index on Windows Live Search. On November 6, 2006, Microsoft added the ability to view the maps in 3D using a.NET managed control and managed interfaces to Direct3D. Microsoft subsequently referred to this product officially as "Live Search Maps", integrating it as part of its Live Search services.
On June 3, 2009, Microsoft officially rebranded Live Search Maps as Bing Maps, and the Virtual Earth platform as Bing Maps for Enterprise.
In 2010, Microsoft added an OpenStreetMap layer to Bing Maps. From 2012, Nokia powered many aspects of Bing Maps as an extension to its Windows Phone 7 partnership with Microsoft, including mapping data, geocoding, traffic data and navigation.
Updates
- v1
- v2 - "Bird's-eye imagery" released
- v2.5
- - Real time traffic, collections, new API
- - People search, drawing on maps, new imagery
- - 3D viewer, building models in 15 cities
- - New 3D models and high-resolution imagery for 6 new areas
- - Over 100 European cities with bird's-eye coverage added
- - 3.8TB of bird's-eye imagery, orthophotos and 3D models of 5 British cities
- VE 3D plugin for Firefox, GeoRSS support, area calculations
- - New data, party maps, traffic based routing, v6 MapControl, Bird's Eye in 3D, etc.
- - Improved quality of 3D models, improved KML support and new export capabilities, street labels on Bird's Eye imagery, MapCruncher integration, HD filming capabilities, Clearflow traffic report system
- - Multi-point driving directions, landmarks in directions, weather, real stars, new data
- - 48TB of road network data
- - Performance improvements
- Bing
- - Silverlight, Twitter, Streetside
- - Silverlight improvements
- -
Imagery updates
However, the necessary time-lapse before images are updated means that aerial and Bird's-Eye images for a particular location can sometimes be several years out-of-date. This is particularly noticeable in locations that have undergone rapid recent development or experienced other dramatic changes since the imagery was taken, such as areas affected by natural disasters.
Features
Street maps
Users can browse and search topographically-shaded street maps for many cities worldwide. Maps include certain points of interest built in, such as metro stations, stadiums, hospitals, and other facilities. It is also possible to browse public user-created points of interest. Searches can cover public collections, businesses or types of business, locations, or people. Five street map views are available: Road View, Aerial View, Bird's Eye View, Street Side View, and 3D View.Road view
Aerial view
Bird's-eye view
Streetside
Venue maps
3D maps
Driving, walking, and transit directions
Users can get directions between two or more locations. In September 2010, Bing Maps added public transit directions to its available direction options. Currently transit directions are only available in 11 cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark Metro Area, New York Metro Area, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver BC, and Washington DC.It is also available in other countries such as Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Mexico and some others.
Map apps
Bing Map Apps is a collection of 1st and 3rd party applications that add additional functionality and content to Bing Maps. Examples of map apps include a parking finder, a taxi fare calculator, an app that maps out Facebook friends, and an app which lets users explore the day's newspaper front pages from around the world. These apps are only accessible through Bing Maps Silverlight. A source code is available on Microsoft Developer Network to explain integration of Maps in Web Applications. A sample ongoing project on locating Blood Donors on Maps is available here.Traffic information and ClearFlow
Bing Maps shows users current traffic information for major highways and roads. The feature uses 4 color codes to indicate traffic volume, from heaviest traffic to lightest traffic.Microsoft announced in March 2008 that it will release its latest software technology called "ClearFlow". It is a Web-based service for traffic-based driving directions available on Bing.com in 72 cities across the U.S. The tool took five years for Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence team to develop. ClearFlow provides real-time traffic data to help drivers avoid traffic congestion. ClearFlow gives information for alternative routes and supplies traffic conditions on city streets adjacent to highways. Clearflow anticipates traffic patterns, while taking into account sporting/arena events, time of day and weather conditions, and then reflects the back ups and their consequential spill over onto city streets. Often, ClearFlow found it may be faster to stay on the highway instead of seeking alternative side street routes, which involve traffic lights and congestion as well.
Sharing and embedding maps
Bing Maps allows users to share maps and embed maps into their websites. By clicking the e-mail icon in the bottom-left corner of Bing Maps, a window will open that displays a shareable URL so others can access the map currently being viewed. This window also provides HTML code to embed a small version of the map onto any web page.Design
In August 2010, Bing Maps launched an overhauled design for its default view. The new colors create a more visually appealing backdrop for information delivery that helps content ‘pop’ on the map. The backdrop provides clear differentiation for pushpins, labels and red, yellow and green traffic overlays. These design principles also works well in black and white and creates differentiation for those with the most common forms of color blindness.Also, larger fonts correspond to larger roads to help customers more easily identify main roads in cities. More readable labels eliminate the need for bolding and less-attractive glows. The inclusion of neighborhood labels allows users to quickly find or convey locations in a commonly used and highly relevant format.
Other features
People, business, and location search
The search box at the top of Bing Maps can be used to locate places, businesses and landmarks, and people. Search results appear both on a left-side rail and as pushpins on the map. Search results often include addresses, contact information, and reviews for businesses and landmarks. For relevant searches, the user will also see a description of the landmark or place if a Wikipedia article exists.The search process can also be guided using local directories for numerous categories.
User contributions
Bing Maps users can also view and add "user contributed" entries to the map. These user-contributions must be toggled on by users. Such items can include businesses, landmarks, buildings, and locations. Users can browse user-contributions by tags and subscribe to RSS feeds to receive updates of new user-contributions to a specific area.Dynamic labels
In August 2010, Bing Maps added dynamic labels to its Silverlight experience. Turn on the dynamic labels beta from the map style selector on bing.com/maps/explore and the labels become clickable. This allows users to quickly zoom down to a region or location anywhere on the map with just a few clicks. Zooming back out in a single click is also possible by using the ‘breadcrumb’ trail at the top left of the map.AJAX and Silverlight versions
Bing Maps has two separate versions for users: an AJAX version and an opt-in Silverlight version that requires Microsoft Silverlight to be installed. The Silverlight version is positioned to offer richer, more dynamic features and a smoother experience. In November 2010, the AJAX and Silverlight versions were combined into a semi-hybrid site where Silverlight features such as Map Apps and Streetside could be enabled through the Bing.com/Maps site - these features still required Silverlight to be installed, but does not require use of a separate Bing Maps site.The AJAX and Silverlight site share the following features: Road View, Aerial View, Bird's-Eye View, Sharing Maps, People/Business/Location Search, Building Footprints, Driving Directions, Walking Directions.
Silverlight users exclusively can use Map Apps, StreetSide View, Photosynths, and Dynamic Labels.
Map apps
Access
Bing Map Apps are accessed either through the "Map Apps" button in the Bing Maps Explore Bar or through direct perma-links. The Map Apps button is only viewable if the user is in the Bing Maps Silverlight experience or in Windows 8.Bing map apps
There are a number of map apps that are developed/published by Bing, as indicated by the publisher above the map app's name in the app gallery. The following are a list of 1st party apps:| 2010 Tour de France: Shows Tour de France segments and results | Bing Health Maps: Displays various health statistic heat maps for the US | Bing Maps World Tour – Explore new imagery for Bing Maps |
| Businesses by Category: Displays businesses by various categories | Coin Search: A game to find hidden coins in StreetSide imagery | Current Traffic: See traffic levels for major highways and roads |
| Distance Calculator: Calculate the distance between 2 points in Miles or Kilometers | Education Map: See local opportunities to volunteer and mentor kids | Food Cart Finder: Find the best food carts to eat at in Portland, OR |
| foursquare Everysquare: Integrates foursquare checkins and badges to Bing Maps | Haiti Earthquake: View before and after photos of Haiti | Home Turf Finder: Find places to watch the World Cup based on country |
| Hotel Finder: Find and learn about hotels | Local Events: Learn about local upcoming events | Local Lens: Keep up to date with hyperlocal information |
| StreetSide Photos: Explore cities and landmarks at the StreetSide level using geo-tagged Flickr images | Teach Here: Search for local teaching job opportunities | Twitter Maps: See real-time updates from geo-tagged tweets |
| What's Nearby: See what's in the neighborhood | World Cup: Check the latest information on the World Cup | WorldWide Telescope: Explore the skies and universe |
| My Friends: Map out Facebook friends | OpenStreetMap: Change the base map to OpenStreetMap |
Third-party apps
Bing Map Apps also allows third parties to create and submit map apps. The following are a list of 3rd party map apps:| Destination Maps: Create a custom map to a party or place | Everyscape Eats!: Explore 360 degree views of restaurants | Gas Prices: See gas prices for nearby gas stations |
| GeoSalesTax: View a heat map of sales tax rates in the US | Global Action Atlas: View ongoing global efforts to help people in need and help the environment | DonorsChoose.org: See micro-donation opportunities to help classrooms in need |
| Oodle Rentals: Find places to rent housing | ParkingFinder: Find parking and get parking rates in major cities | Random Location: Jump to a random location on the map |
| Ricky's Data Viewer: Import shape files and GSS files to view on Bing Maps | Roadside Sculptures: See sculptures found on US highways | Roadside Attractions: Learn about attractions found along US highways |
| Seattle Issues: Shows SeeClickFix civil issues in the Seattle area | Signs & Billboards: Unique and noteworthy signs and billboards | Taxi Fare Calculator: Estimate taxi care costs |
| Today's Front Pages: View the front pages of newspapers from around the globe | TrafficLand: See traffic cameras across the US | Travel Webcams: View webcam feeds at global attractions |
| Urban Graffiti: Images of graffiti from cities | Urban Murals Wall paintings from urban corridors | Wcities Events: Find local events |
| WCities Places Nearby: Find nearby hotels, attractions, venues, and restaurants | Weather: See weather conditions and forecasts | Wiki Explorer: Explore the 50 most recent entries to Wiki Places |
| World of Football: See scores of top European soccer teams |
Map coverage
Global Ortho Program
In July 2010, Microsoft and DigitalGlobe, a leading global content provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, announced the collection of the first imagery from the company's Advanced Ortho Aerial Program. Through a special agreement with Microsoft, the Advanced Ortho Aerial Program will provide wall-to-wall 30 cm aerial coverage of the contiguous United States and Western Europe that DigitalGlobe has the exclusive rights to distribute beyond Bing Maps. The program's first orthophoto mosaics are of Augusta, GA, San Diego, CA and Tampa, FL, and can be viewed on DigitalGlobe's website.Americas
Africa
Europe
Asia / Oceania
Middle East
Compatibility
Microsoft states that Bing Maps needs the following environment:- Windows XP with SP2 or a later version
- Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0
- Windows Imaging Component
- 250 MB or more of hard disk space
- A 1.0-gigahertz processor
- 256 MB of system memory
- A 32-MB video card that supports Microsoft DirectX 9, with 3D hardware acceleration enabled
- A high-speed or broadband Internet connection
The 3D Maps viewer plug-in requires Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 6/7/8 or Firefox 1.5/2.0/3.0.