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 Platform framework which also support APIs and APIs. Since 2020, the map data is provided by TomTom, OpenStreetMap and others.
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.
On June 1, 2020 it was announced the base map data of the Bing Maps Platform would now be sourced from TomTom.
Updates
- v1
- v2 - "Bird's-eye imagery" released
- v2.5
- v3 - 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
The time between image updates means that aerial and Bird's-Eye images of a particular location can sometimes be several years out-of-date. This is particularly noticeable in locations that have undergone recent rapid development or experienced other dramatic changes such as natural disasters since the imagery was taken.
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 businesses, 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. Although at the beginning it was only available in some cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark Metro Area, New York Metro Area, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver BC, and Washington DC, now you can find information from all over the world.Currently, a wide coverage of transit information is being reached in other countries such as Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and many 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.