Microsoft has just announced that its Bing Maps service is finally leaving the beta state. And as it prepares to become a full-pledged Microsoft geo-mapping service, Bing has brought some new stuff with it.
These new features aims to give users better experience while using Bing Maps. Perhaps equal to how good Google Maps is or even better?
Here are the new features of Bing Maps:
- improved speed and performance of the default page load time
- improved speed of routing driving directions
- updated user interface to make features and maps more discoverable
- map legends are now easier to use
- addition of Vancouver and Whistler to the Bing Map database
Bing Maps also promises more new applications to be added on a regular basis. For starters, two new apps were just released. One is an application for tweaking the map appearance and can be used for customization while the second app helps you find local events by overlaying activities on a Bing map.
And finally, to kick off Bing’s becoming a full-blown web service Microsoft is holding the Bing Maps Challenge, where you can have a chance to win $100 gift card. Good luck!
Glad to see Bing Maps move out of Beta. Love the features and competition is always a good thing. My only concern is the speed of loading. The calls and return action seem to be sluggish compared to Google. I’m not sure if this is just a temporary thing or my loop. This is a big leap forward for Bing.