New Bing Maps

[Michael]

When I was using Bing Maps earlier for Bird's Eye imagery, I saw a link to preview the new Bing Maps.  I spent about a half hour playing with it, and here's what I found:

- The search box is at the top like classic Google Maps, but search results and directions show up in a panel similar to Google Maps.

- A pie menu is used to switch between map types.  Pie menus were used in beta versions of Office 2007.

- It doesn't revert to an equivalent of Lite Mode like the new Google Maps on Windows XP.

- Streetside is now available without needing Silverlight.  I read recently that Microsoft is moving away from Silverlight.

- It uses less RAM than the full Google Maps, but it's still laggy (I'd say a bit more than Google Maps).  It peaked at around 400 MB while viewing Streetside imagery, but the full Google Maps peaks at around 700 MB.

- I think it has a memory leak since after closing and reopening the tab, the RAM usage dropped back down to 150-200 MB, which is what classic Google Maps used.

- Routes are still draggable, and the custom points have labels showing the name of the street you told it to use.

The new Bing Maps can be found at http://www.bing.com/mapspreview.

[doorknob60]

First time I've ever been able to use Streetside (their version of Street View). That alone is enough to make me happy. I've literally never been able to use it before. Might go poke around with it some more.

EDIT: It's really slow compared to Google Street View for me. Tried in Chrome and Firefox. But, the way you can drag the map while in street view is cool and works better than the GMSV equivalent.

[Bruce]

Bus stops and transit stations are clickable and have full scheduled times (and even real-time arrival for King County Metro in Seattle!). This is one of the last features Bing needed in order to make it compete with Google for me personally.

[Charles2]

Just checked out the maps for Alabama, and I'm noticed two issues right off the bat:

1) The I-20/59 multiplex that runs from Meridian to Birmingham is marked only as I-59.
2) There is no differentiation between state routes and county roads.

[jakeroot]

2) There is no differentiation between state routes and county roads.

No county roads in Washington State. Bing Maps designers probably aren't aware of their existence.

[hotdogPi]

It doesn't work for me. I tried dragging the screen to move it. Instead, it highlighted a 15mi x 15mi (approximate) area of the map and "dragged" it. The screen didn't move.

Then I tried the arrow keys. No movement.

Then I pressed "D", thinking it might be on WASD keys. Nothing.

[Bruce]

The preview doesn't have support for Wikipedia's embedded KMLs...I really hope it's in the final version, since we've already lost support on Google Maps.

[Bickendan]

Ugh, don't like the symbology, don't like the non-differentiation between at-grade highways and arteries/secondaries, or trunks/primaries/secondaries ala OSM.

[Roadsguy]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

[jakeroot]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.

" in full mode, not lite, afaik

[Roadrunner75]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.
" in full mode, not lite, afaik

Where in Google Maps is this option?  Also, what happened to the "Birds Eye" view that Google was starting to roll out (and which Bing has had for years) in the browser version of Gmaps (not Earth)?  At the bottom of the screen there is a tiny "3D view not available" note.  When I click on it, it tells me it is not available due to 3 reasons (browser, OS version, graphics card), all of which my PC definitely meets.  It worked fine in Classic.

I feel like the new Google Maps is partly some elaborate practical joke.  How many useful features can we eliminate and still have these schmucks use our site?  If Bing would just get their act together and catch up to the usefulness of Classic Gmaps (including more Streetview), I'd switch in a second.

[DaBigE]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.
" in full mode, not lite, afaik

Where in Google Maps is this option?

It used to be in the settings pop-up, and only when viewed in Chrome, but I see the settings button has disappeared too

[Roadrunner75]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.
" in full mode, not lite, afaik

Where in Google Maps is this option?

It used to be in the settings pop-up, and only when viewed in Chrome, but I see the settings button has disappeared too

Not surprising.  I expect satellite view will be gone next week.  Well done, Google.

[mgk920]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.
" in full mode, not lite, afaik

Where in Google Maps is this option?

It used to be in the settings pop-up, and only when viewed in Chrome, but I see the settings button has disappeared too

Not surprising.  I expect satellite view will be gone next week.  Well done, Google.

- Set Google to show 'earth'.
- Click on the little three horizontal line icon in the left end of the box in the upper left of the screen (it will say 'Menu' when you hold the cursor over it), a menu box will appear on the screen from the left.
- The top line in that menu box will be 'Earth' and below it will be the line 'Labels on'.  Click on it.  The labels will now be 'off'.

Mike

[Roadrunner75]

Why does every "modern" map not have an option to hide labels?

I assume you mean "every *other*..."? Google Maps allows"  label disabling.
" in full mode, not lite, afaik

Where in Google Maps is this option?

It used to be in the settings pop-up, and only when viewed in Chrome, but I see the settings button has disappeared too

Not surprising.  I expect satellite view will be gone next week.  Well done, Google.

- Set Google to show 'earth'.
- Click on the little three horizontal line icon in the left end of the box in the upper left of the screen (it will say 'Menu' when you hold the cursor over it), a menu box will appear on the screen from the left.
- The top line in that menu box will be 'Earth' and below it will be the line 'Labels on'.  Click on it.  The labels will now be 'off'.

Mike

Unfortunately, I can't even get to "Earth" from regular Gmaps.  I'm thinking maybe my video card, although it's not on Google's list of unsupported cards, or maybe I should try a different browser.  Otherwise, everything seems up to date. 

I believe it was mentioned here before, but I'm going to start using this reconstruction of Classic Maps:
http://gokml.net/maps#ll=42.345573,-71.098326&z=3&t=r

If only it allowed me to zoom directly in and out of Streetview, switching back and forth from satellite with ease like Classic.  Otherwise it works pretty good.  I wonder if the maps/GSV are up to date, or if newer stuff is only available in new Gmaps...

[WillWeaverRVA]

- Streetside is now available without needing Silverlight.  I read recently that Microsoft is moving away from Silverlight.

Makes sense given how resource-intensive and generally non-functional Silverlight is.

[Thunderbyrd316]

"I wonder if the maps/GSV are up to date, or if newer stuff is only available in new Gmaps...?" In answer to this question posed above, yes ClassyGMaps does have the latest Street View images available including new images from Mongolia which was just added a few days ago. I plan to use ClassyG exclusively as long as it remains up unless something REALLY cool comes along.

[ixnay]

"I wonder if the maps/GSV are up to date, or if newer stuff is only available in new Gmaps...?" In answer to this question posed above, yes ClassyGMaps does have the latest Street View images available including new images from Mongolia which was just added a few days ago. I plan to use ClassyG exclusively as long as it remains up unless something REALLY cool comes along.

How does one access Street View from http://gokml.net/maps#ll=38.875232,-76.039427&z=8&t=r ?

Also, I don't like how Google Maps has eliminated posting of incidents, rather just showing traffic flow itself but not what's causing jams.

ixnay

[1995hoo]

I had not noticed this thread when I made the following comment yesterday in the read about Google Maps' deterioration:

I was irked by Google Maps being slow this afternoon, so I tried Bing Maps because their site has been consistently fast. I noted they had a link on the left side suggesting you try the "new" Bing Maps. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it. Worst of all worlds: Similar interface to new Google Maps, slower than the old Bing Maps, outdated map data (multiple missing ramps along I-95 in Northern Virginia–the HO/T lanes have been open for almost eight months now, so the ramps should be there; the ICC in Maryland is incomplete; at least they do show the Jersey Turnpike widening as having been completed), even more outdated "Bird's Eye" satellite images.

On the plus side, they got rid of the embarrassing "Branch" and "Boulevard" banners they used to display on "Business Routes" and "Business Loops," but that's not much of an accomplishment.

There is an "Exit" button at the lower right corner that lets you return to old Bing Maps more easily than Google Maps allowed back when they still had that capability. It asks you what you didn't like, so I gave them an abridged version of the above–it limits the space you have to comment, although it doesn't TELL you there's a limit and instead it simply stops accepting text.

I should note the old Bing Maps is still nice and fast, though it suffers from outdated map data in the same manner the new site does.

[vdeane]

Also, I don't like how Google Maps has eliminated posting of incidents, rather just showing traffic flow itself but not what's causing jams.

They still show up for me, though they're kinda generic ("Roadwork on I-890 W", "Accident on I-90 E", etc.).

[Mr. Matté]

I didn't see any "Bing Maps Fucking Sucks!" threads so I'm continuing this one. Good ol' silent corporatism breaking things that weren't broken has affected Bird's Eye View (especially throughout the US outside of cities):


The change occurred earlier this month and per other Microsoft forums, after numerous complaints about the BEV being removed, the staff responded that rural imagery was rarely used and cost for storage was high.

[20160805]

Bing Maps needs to severely revise/update the maps for my local area.  Roads have the wrong names, highways run on old alignments, a couple of streets in Menasha are marked as one way even though they obviously aren't, new subdivisions aren't all there... 

[vdeane]

I was trying out the driving directions today to see if Bing could replace Google for some of my mapping.  While it's directions are theoretically great (they allow dragging both the start/end points as well as the routing, without turning the routing points into destinations, unlike every other map provider that is not Google, and seem to even allow more points), in practice it's problematic.  Removing points is not as easy as with Google, and needs to be done more often, because Bing has a habit of seemingly reordering the points and sometimes the route goes all screwball for no apparent reason, requiring a bunch of points be deleted and starting over.  It also seems to overestimate time (though Google underestimates, so this isn't necessarily worse).  Guess I'll still have to use Google for now.

[Rothman]

I have had the same frustrations trying to switch to Bing. 

I actually wish for the very old days when MapQuest was king, but they have since cheapened out on their vector set -- it is now horrifically incomplete (while Google Maps is over complete -- I have ended up at gates across dirt roads).  Loved having nearly endless edit points and the timing of the routes was consistent.

[Roadsguy]

Was there ever actual Bird's-Eye in rural areas? It always seemed to just be some weird stretching of the regular imagery just so the button did something.