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 Platform framework which also support Bing Maps for Enterprise APIs and Azure Maps APIs. Since 2020, the map data is provided by TomTom, OpenStreetMap and others.
History
Bing Maps was originally launched as MSN Virtual Earth, which was released for beta testing on July 24, 2005. It was a continuation of previous Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft MapPoint and TerraServer. Its original stand out feature was the aerial imagery. 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.
In December 2005, Virtual Earth was replaced by Windows Live Local, featuring improvements, technologies from Pictometry International, and integrated with the Local Search index on Windows Live Search. 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.
In 2010, Microsoft added an OpenStreetMap layer to Bing Maps. From 2012, Nokia (formerly Navteq) powered many aspects of Bing Maps as an extension to its Windows Phone 7 partnership with Microsoft, including mapping data, geocoding, traffic data and navigation.
On June 1, 2020 it was announced the base map data of the Bing Maps Platform would now be sourced from TomTom.
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 December 2009) - Silverlight, Twitter, Streetside (Oslo) (11 June 2010) - Silverlight improvements (Boston M4) (December 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.
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. Five street map views are available: Road View, Aerial View, Bird's Eye View, Street Side View, and 3D View.