Hey, a new Bing maps interface!

Just saw a tweet by Doc Searls (who likes the Birds Eye View) saying that the Bing Map Server  was “temporarily unavailable”, so we checked and found a new interface:

newbingmaps1

The navigation bars look to be simplified, and “Get Directions” is featured prominently on the www.bing.com/maps page.  At the bottom, a simplified set of icons offers up a range of choices:

newbingmaps2

From left to right, after the Welcome page, are Directions, “My Places” (this was called Collections, and yes your collections are still accessible), Share, Print, and Traffic.  Here’s a closer look at My Places:

newbingmaps3

Under “Explore”, user contributions can be sorted on (left to right in the icons): Items with pictures, Items with 3d Buildings, Items with MapCruncher Layers, and Items with Photosynths.

No mention in the Bing Maps blog as of yet, we’ll keep you posted as we get more information.

Comments

  • danz32

    I see one big feature that I’m really happy about (which FYI Google maps already had): be able to click on a route and drag it to a new location.

    Bing maps is pretty solid. I’m happy to use it as my main map service

  • Pramil Kuchhal

    Bing maps is now way faster….

  • Pramil Kuchhal

    Bing Maps now also support business searches in Directions. Also now I am able to do directions by typing Seattle to Portland!

  • Khristopher

    Wow that’s pretty slick :) I like.

  • Rex Dee

    Am I just behind the times or has the images page always displayed related photos of the main bing page image?

  • Kip Kniskern

    A few things I’ve noticed after playing around for a few minutes:
    ~you used to alt-left mouse click to define an area to zoom into: now it’s ctrl-left click.
    ~At this point, 3D image “skins” aren’t rendering, just getting the plain block shapes of buildings (in Seattle, anyway)
    ~The Welcome Page link at the bottom left isn’t operational, obviously this is an update in progress
    ~The shape of the pushpins have changed from a box to a circle
    We agree it seems faster. What other changes can you find?

  • BuciboLebo

    A month ago Google unveiled Google Maps South Africa http://maps.google.za , for a country that in 7 months will be hosting the FIFA World Cup and hosting multitudes of tourists. These tourists will be using Google to find places of interest as much as South Africans are currently making Google Maps synonymous with the online way of finding places. As for Bing Maps, it has for the past couple of years only given us highways. I recently gave up on Bing Maps to switch to Google Maps. This is just another of many examples of Microsoft’s recent ineptness at attacking emerging markets and leaving Google unchallenged.

    Bing Maps the technology is extremely good but MS is once again not showing not showing commitment to make a good consumer product grow beyond the US.

  • jamiet

    -They now have the option to overlay the London tube map (http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=51.50040115644618~-0.13878356628418942&lvl=15&sty=c&trn=1)
    -The zoom slider has labels for Street, City & Country
    -They have a preview option when given the HTML needed to embed a map in a web page
    -You can now embed static maps rather than draggable map (yes!. Cool feature – one Goog has had for ages)
    -Embeddable map is customisable (using the preview function)

  • BV2312

    I think they have used some of the technology from MuiltiMap.

    Added alot of features to the maps tho – which is well overdue

  • jamiet

    (UK related) 2 kinds of road maps, normal and Ordnance Survey. Plus detailed street maps of London. I agree with the previous commenter, it seems Multimap features have arrived in Bing Maps for UK users.

  • jamiet

    Rex Dee
    “Am I just behind the times or has the images page always displayed related photos of the main bing page image?”

    I only noticed that myself yesterday so perhaps it IS new. No way of knowing for sure of course!

    -Jamie

  • nikhil_jain

    Win $10K and a Trip to L.A. via Bing Cashback Contest

    https://www.bingcashbacksweeps.com/main/Home.aspx?fbid=aX02O9q6ahB

  • lbastie

    really good and fast.

    Congratulations!

    Finally. I no longer need Google maps.

  • nikhil_jain
  • Quikboy

    I want transit features for pedestrians, bike, and mass transit!

    Otherwise than that, I kinda like it, but I’ll miss the blue navigation buttons, the old pushpins, and some of the other bits.

    What’s kinda creepy though, is that you can easily get rid of ANYONE’s personal listings. You just search up a name in People search, and hovering over the pushpin will give you an option to “Remove My Listing” and by entering a simple code provided by one of those character-analysis-pictures, you can get rid of it.