- of
Microsoft’s Revamped Bing Maps Targets Google
by Nicholas Kolakowski
Bing Maps Beta includes a variety of new features designed to help Microsoft’s search engine eke an advantage over Google.
Bing Maps Beta still includes those online-map stalwarts like satellite view.
The new Streetside feature works similarly to Google’s Street View, offering an eye-level perspective of local terrain.
Twitter Maps will Tweets originating from particular geographic locations.
The new PhotoSynth feature allows various locations to be explored in far more depth, via a collage-style assembly of images and information.
Bing Maps will allow access to traffic-camera feeds; in order to assure you that, if nothing else, you are indeed stuck in that traffic jam.
Through Virtualglobetrotting.com, users can find the most interesting billboards and signage in a particular area.
The traffic app (increasingly utilized by online and smartphone maps) allows you to see where traffic is heaviest.
Another app lets you find restaurants.
Local Lens scans blogs for geography-related terms and uses those to try to geo-locate blog postings on a map; Microsoft intends this feature to allow users to find community happenings.
The "What’s Nearby" feature shows all local points of interest.
Bing Maps will collate and display local Webcams.
The full collection of Bing Maps apps (say that last part five times fast).
For those interested in urban exploration, Bing Maps can let you check out the local graffiti.
Windows & Interoperability News & Reviews 
Cloud Data Backup Now Makes Sense for SMBs: 10 Reasons Why 
HP, Lenovo, Asus Laptops, Desktops Offer Consumer Style for Busin[..]
Microsoft`s F#: 10 Reasons Why It`s a Hot Programming Language fo[..]
Data Center Efficiency: 10 Tips to Boost Productivity, Reduce Pow[..]
iPhone Apps to Kick Off the 2012 Summer Season 
Email Security: 10 Steps for Dealing With Dangerous Messages
See All Slideshows
Microsoft announced on Dec. 2 new features for Bing, its search engine, that include updated Bing Maps with "Streetside" eye-level views and a Twitter feed. Many of the features of Microsoft’s Bing Maps Beta seem intent on integrating online cartography with real-time information from the Web. In addition to current traffic and live Webcam feeds, Bing Maps Beta offers up local color—in the form of images of quirky billboards and graffiti—and updates on community events.
Microsoft is integrating more features into Bing as it seeks to compete more vigorously in the online-search space against Google. Currently, Bing occupies roughly 9.6 percent of the U.S. search-engine market, according to a Nov. 11 research note by Experian Hitwise, while Google occupies 70.6 percent.