- Bing Maps
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Bing Maps 
Bing MapsDeveloper(s) Microsoft Stable release Final (v7) / December 5th, 2010 Type Web mapping service
Virtual globeWebsite http://www.bing.com/maps Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) 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.
Contents
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. There are 5 primary types of street map views available to users: Road View, Aerial View, Bird’s Eye View, StreetSide View, and 3D View
Road view
- Road view is the default map view and displays vector imagery of roads, buildings, and geography. The data from which the default road map is rendered is licensed from Navteq. In certain parts of the world, road view maps from alternative data providers are also available. For example, when viewing a map of London, you can display road data from the Collins Bartholomew London Street Map. In all parts of the UK, you can display road data from the Ordnance Survey. A Bing Maps app is available that will display road data from Open Street Map.[1]
Aerial view
- Aerial view overlays satellite imagery onto the map and highlights roads and major landmarks to be easily identifiable amongst the satellite images.
Bird's-eye view
- Bird's-eye view displays aerial imagery captured from low-flying aircraft. Unlike the top-down aerial view captured by satellite, Bird's-eye images are taken at an oblique, 45-degree angle, which give the user better depth perception for buildings and geography. Bird's-eye view is available in selected locations across the globe[2], including major cities in the United States, Canada, Japan and in over 80 European locations. Bird's-Eye images for a location may be viewed from all four cardinal directions. These images are typically much more detailed than the aerial views taken from directly above. Signs, advertisements, pedestrians, and other objects are clearly visible in many Bird's Eye views.
StreetSide view
- StreetSide view provides immersive, panoramic (360 degree) imagery of street-level scenes taken from special cameras mounted on moving vehicles. Launched in December 2009[3] it contains imagery for selected metro areas in the United States as well as selected areas in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia associated with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games (example: Richmond Olympic Oval). Microsoft plans to make selected cities in Europe available by end of 2011. From August to September 2011, German customers were allowed to appeal integration of their house of flat in Bing StreetSide until end of September.[4] According to some officials, the number of appeals was significantly lower than with Google Maps Street View.[5] Only 40,000 request were sent to Microsoft.
3D maps
- The 3D maps feature lets user see buildings in 3D, with the added ability to rotate and tilt the angle in addition to panning and zooming. To attempt to achieve near-photorealism, all 3D buildings are textured using composites of aerial photography. To view the 3D maps, users must install a plugin, then enable the "3D" option on "Bing Maps". In addition to exploring the maps using a mouse and keyboard, it is possible to navigate the 3D environment using an Xbox 360 controller or another game controller in Windows 7 , Windows Vista or Windows XP.
- Currently, roughly 68 cities worldwide may be viewed in 3D, including most of the major cities in the United States and a few cities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.[6] Some additional cities have had a select few important landmarks modelled in 3D, such as the Colosseum in Rome. Terrain data is available for the entire world. It is also possible to use a 3D modelling program called 3DVIA Shape for Maps to add one's own models to the 3D map. As of November 2010, Microsoft decided to drop their 3D feature to focus on other aspects of Bing Maps. [7]
Driving, walking, and transit directions
Users can get directions between two or more locations. In September 2010, Bing Maps added public transit directions (bus, subway, and local rail) to its available direction options.[8] 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.
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.
Traffic information and ClearFlow
Bing Maps shows users current traffic information for major highways and roads. The feature users 4 color codes (black, red, yellow, green) to indicate traffic volume, from heaviest traffic to lightest traffic. Microsoft announced in March 2008 that it will be releasing 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]
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 (linked together by numbers). 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 (powered by Wikipedia) if a Wikipedia article exists. The search process can also be guided using local directories for numerous categories (restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, retail stores, etc.).
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. These user-contributed items can include businesses, landmarks, buildings, locations, as well as Microsoft [Photosynth]s. 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 (bing.com/maps/explore). 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 experiences for users: an AJAX version (located at Bing.com/Maps) and an opt-in Silverlight version (located at Bing.com/Maps/Explore) 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 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.
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 (Shopping, Food, Travel, etc.) 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 (restaurants, bars, movie theatres, shopping, etc.) 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
Country Navteq Coverage Bird’s Eye Map POIs United States Full Yes Yes Bahamas Full No Yes Canada Full Yes Yes Cayman Islands Full No Yes Mexico Full No Yes Puerto Rico Full No Yes Virgin Islands Full No Yes Argentina Full No Yes Brazil Full No Yes Chile Limited No Yes Colombia Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs French Guiana Full No No Guadeloupe Full No No Martinique Full No No Saint Barthelemy Full No No Venezuela Full No Yes Anguilla Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Antigua and Barbuda Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Aruba Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Barbados Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Belize Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bermuda Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bolivia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Costa Rica Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Cuba Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Dominica Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Dominican Republic Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Ecuador Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs El Salvador Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Greenland Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Grenada Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Guatemala Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Guyana Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Haiti Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Honduras Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Jamaica Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Montserrat Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Netherlands Antilles Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Nicaragua Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Panama Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Paraguay Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Peru Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Saint Kitts and Nevis Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Saint Lucia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs St. Pierre and Miquelon Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Suriname Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Trinidad and Tobago Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Turks and Caicos Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Uruguay Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Africa
Country Navteq Coverage Bird’s Eye Map POIs Algeria Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Angola Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Benin Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Burkina Faso Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Burundi Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Cameroon Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Cape Verde Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Central African Republic Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Chad Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Comoros Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Congo Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Côte d'Ivoire Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Djibouti Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Equatorial Guinea Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Eritrea Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Ethiopia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Gabon Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Gambia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Ghana Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Morocco Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Guinea-Bissau Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Kenya Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Liberia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Madagascar Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Malawi Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mali Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mauritania Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mauritius Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mayotte Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mozambique Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Niger Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Nigeria Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Rwanda Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs São Tomé and Príncipe Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Senegal Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Seychelles Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Sierra Leone Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Somalia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs South Africa Full No Yes St. Helena Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Sudan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Tanzania, United Republic of Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Togo Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Tunisia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Uganda Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Western Sahara Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Zambia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Zimbabwe Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Europe
Country Navteq Coverage Bird’s Eye Map POIs Andorra Full No Yes Austria Full Yes Yes Belgium Full Yes Yes Croatia Full No Yes Czech Republic Full No Yes Denmark Full Yes Yes Estonia Full Yes Yes Finland Full Yes Yes France Full Yes Yes Germany Full Yes Yes Gibraltar Full No Yes Greece Full Yes Yes Guernsey Full No Yes Hungary Full No Yes Ireland Full Yes Yes Isle of Man Full No Yes Italy Full Yes Yes Jersey Full No Yes Latvia Full Yes Yes Liechtenstein Full No Yes Lithuania Full Yes Yes Luxembourg Full Yes Yes Monaco Full Yes Yes Netherlands Full Yes Yes Norway Full Yes Yes Poland Full No Yes Portugal Full Yes Yes Russian Federation Full No Yes San Marino Full Yes Yes Slovakia Full No Yes Slovenia Full No Yes Spain Full Yes Yes Sweden Full Yes Yes Switzerland Full Yes Yes Turkey Full No Yes United Kingdom Full Yes Yes Vatican City State Full Yes Yes Albania Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Belarus Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bosnia and Herzegowina Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bulgaria Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Iceland Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Moldova, Republic of Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Montenegro Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Romania Full Yes Named Places & Transportation Hubs Serbia Full Yes Named Places & Transportation Hubs Azerbaijan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Faroe Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Sudan Georgia No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Armenia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Cyprus Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Malta Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Ukraine Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Asia / Oceania
Country Navteq Coverage Bird’s Eye Map POIs Brunei Full No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Japan Full Yes Named Places & Transportation Hubs Afghanistan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs American Samoa Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bangladesh Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Bhutan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Cambodia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs China Limited No No Cook Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Fiji Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs French Polynesia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Guam Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Kiribati Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Kyrgyzstan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Lao People's Democratic Republic Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Maldives Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Marshall Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Micronesia, Federated States of Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Mongolia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Myanmar Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Nauru Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Nepal Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs New Caledonia Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Niue Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Norfolk Island Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs North Korea Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Northern Mariana Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Pakistan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Palau Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Papua New Guinea Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Philippines Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Solomon Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs South Korea Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Sri Lanka Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Tajikistan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Timor-Leste Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Tonga Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Turkmenistan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Tuvalu Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Uzbekistan Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Vanuatu Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Viet Nam Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Wallis and Futuna Islands Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Australia Full Yes Named Places & Transportation Hubs Hong Kong Limited No Yes India Full Yes Yes Indonesia Limited No Yes Macau Limited No Yes Malaysia Limited No Yes New Zealand Limited No Yes Singapore Limited No Yes Taiwan Limited No Yes Thailand Limited No Yes Middle East
Country Navteq Coverage Bird’s Eye Map POIs Bahrain Full No Yes Botswana Full No Yes Kuwait Full No Yes Lesotho Full No Yes Namibia Full No Yes Oman Full No Yes Qatar Full No Yes Saudi Arabia Full No Yes Swaziland Full No Yes United Arab Emirates Full No Yes Iran (Islamic Republic of) Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Iraq Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Israel Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Lebanon Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Syrian Arab Republic Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Yemen Limited No Named Places & Transportation Hubs Jordan Full No No Reunion Full No No Egypt Limited No No History
Bing Maps was based on existing Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft MapPoint, and TerraServer. 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. Upon its release in December 2005, Windows Live Local became the public face of the Virtual Earth platform. 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.
Updates
- v1 (Beagle) (July 2005)
- v2 (Calypso) (December 2005) - "Bird's-eye imagery" released
- v2.5 (February 2006)
- v3 (Discovery) (May 2006) - Real time traffic, collections, new API
- v4 (Endeavour) (September 2006) - People search, drawing on maps, new imagery
- v5 (Spaceland) (November 2006) - 3D viewer, building models in 15 cities
- Data update (December 2006) - New 3D models and high-resolution imagery for 6 new areas
- Data update (January 2007) - Over 100 European cities with bird's-eye coverage added
- Data update (29 March 2007) - 3.8TB of bird's-eye imagery, orthophotos and 3D models of 5 British cities
- v5.5 (Falcon) (3 April 2007) VE 3D plugin for Firefox, GeoRSS support, area calculations
- v6 (Gemini) (15 October 2007) - New data, party maps, traffic based routing, v6 MapControl, Bird's Eye in 3D, etc.
- v6.1 (GoliatH) (10 April 2008) - 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
- v6.2 (Helios) (24 September 2008) - Multi-point driving directions, landmarks in directions, weather, real stars, new data
- Data Update (29 December 2008) - 48TB of road network data
- v6.2 (Ikonos) (14 April 2009) - Performance improvements
- Bing (3 June 2009)
- Bing Maps Silverlight Beta (2 Dec 2009) - Silverlight, Twitter, Streetside
- (Oslo) (11 June 2010) - Silverlight improvements
- (Boston M4) (Dec 2010) - New map style Venue maps
Imagery updates
Bing maps frequently update and expand the geographic areas covered by their imagery, with new updates being released on roughly a monthly basis. Each imagery release typically contains more than 10TB of imagery.
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.
Compatibility
Microsoft states that Bing Maps needs the following environment:[12]
- 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 (GHz) processor (2.8 GHz or faster is recommended)
- 256 MB of system memory (1 GB is recommended)
- A 32-MB video card (256 MB is recommended) that supports Microsoft DirectX 9, with 3D hardware acceleration enabled
- A high-speed or broadband Internet connection
Compatible browsers include Windows Internet Explorer 6 or later, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or later, or Safari 3.1 or later.[13] Opera is stated to be usable "with some functionality limitations".[14] Users of browsers that are not considered compatible, as well as users of versions of compatible browsers that are not supported, will be directed away from viewing the map without an error message.
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.[15]
See also
- Comparison of web map services
- Google Earth
- Google Street View
- DigitalGlobe
- Microsoft MapPoint
- Microsoft Research Maps (formerly TerraServer-USA)
- Pictometry International
References
- ^ Bing.com
- ^ Bing Maps Imagery Release April 2010
- ^ Bing Maps Rolls Out Enhanced Aerial and Street-Level Views
- ^ Bing StreetSide: Appeal is possible until end of September, Netzwelt, retrieved September 12, 2011
- ^ Only 40,000 Appeals for Bing Steetside, Netzwelt, August 28, 2011 (german)
- ^ List of 3D cities
- ^ http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2010/11/bing_maps_is_dropping_their_3d_vers.html
- ^ Bing.com
- ^ Bing Maps
- ^ Markoff, John (2008-04-10). "Microsoft Introduces Tool for Avoiding Traffic Jams". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/technology/10maps.html. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ Glazowski, Paul (2008-04-10). "Microsoft Implements 'Clearflow' Traffic Artificial Intelligence in Live Maps". Marshable Social Networking News. http://mashable.com/2008/04/10/microsoft-clearflow-maps/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ Onlinehelp.microsoft.com
- ^ Virtual Earth / Live Maps: Safari and iPhone get the Birds Eye Treatment
- ^ Microsoft.com
- ^ System requirements for Virtual Earth 3D (Beta)
External links
- Bing Maps
- Bing Maps for different regions
- Bing Maps Interactive source SDK
- Official Bing Maps team blog
- Bing Maps for Enterprise and Government
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