Bing Maps

What is Bing Map?

Bing Map (or Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service offered by Microsoft as part of their Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform foundation. 

History of Bing Maps

Bing Maps was originally introduced as MSN Virtual Earth on July 24, 2005, when it was made available for beta testing. It was a continuation of Microsoft's prior technologies, such as Microsoft MapPoint and TerraServer. Its initial distinguishing characteristic was its aerial imagery. In the first version, there weren't many unique features, like a bird's-eye view or 3D maps, and the Collections feature was limited to a single "Scratchpad" with interesting places.

Features

Users can view and explore topographically shaded street maps for a variety of cities across the world. Some locations, such as metro stations, stadiums, hospitals, and other amenities, are included on maps. It is also possible to view user-generated public sites of interest. Searches can encompass public collections, businesses of all kinds, regions, or individuals. There are five possible street map views: Road View, Aerial View, Bird's Eye View, Street Side View.

Road view:

The default map view is road view, which displays vector images of roads, buildings, and terrain. The data used to produce the default road map is licensed from Navteq. In certain regions of the globe, road view maps from other data suppliers are also accessible. When viewing a map of London, for instance, the user may observe road data from the Collins Bartholomew London Street Map. Throughout the entirety of the United Kingdom, road data from the Ordnance Survey can be seen. There is a Bing Maps app that will display OpenStreetMap road data.

Aerial view:

Aerial view superimposes satellite imagery over the map and highlights significant highways and landmarks for easier identification within the satellite imagery. Since the end of November 2010, OpenStreetMap mapmakers have been able to use Bing Aerial images as a background for their maps.

Both Bing Aerial and Birds Eye View photos of German military locations became blurry around the end of January 2012. This was done at the request of the German government, using OpenStreetMap data.

Bird's-eye view:

Bird's-eye view depicts aerial footage acquired by airplanes flying at low altitudes. Unlike the satellite-recorded top-down aerial view, Bird's-eye photos are captured at a 45-degree oblique angle, revealing the sides and roofs of structures for enhanced depth perception in geography. Numerous elements, such as signs, advertisements, and pedestrians, are apparent in Bird's Eye views. Microsoft has occasionally removed Bird's Eye view from previously accessible locations. (Reference needed)

Streetside:

The streetside image on Bing Maps is near the Palace of Westminster.

Bing Maps Streetside camera-equipped vehicle

Streetside offers panoramic images of street-level scenes captured by unique cameras mounted on moving cars. Launched in December 2009, it features imagery for select metropolitan regions in the United States and select sites in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, related to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games (for example, the Richmond Olympic Oval). In May 2012, some European cities were also made available.

Between August and September 2011, German clients had the option to appeal against the incorporation of their home or apartment into Bing Streetside.

The number of appeals was substantially lower than with Google Street View, according to several officials.

Microsoft received a total of 40,000 requests.

Streetside tracks and photos can be displayed for OpenStreetMap editors via a map data layer checkbox.

How to use Bing Maps

Step 1: Visit Bing Maps. Launch your preferred web browser and navigate to Bing Maps.

Step 2: Determine a place.

You can have Bing Maps retrieve your current position, or you can use the search box to pick a different location.

Step 3: View the map:

You can zoom in and out using the plus and minus buttons in the upper right corner of the map to gain a better understanding of the place. Click and drag to center your view on the map. You can also view the world, a country, or a city on the map by zooming in and out. From major roads and highways to houses and streets, everything is visible.

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