Bing Maps Has New Routing Engine

January 6, 2012 4 Comments

Being self-aware is always best.  From the announcement of the New Bing Maps Routing Engine:

Did you happen to notice the new routing engine we implemented on Bing Maps? No?

Yea, I can’t recall the last time I used Bing Maps.  I’m just so used to using Google’s services, it feels unnatural to not type google.com into my browser.  Also I’ve chosen to use Waze for navigation on my iPhone leaving them to handle routing and navigation while I’m out and about. So yea, its been some time since I’ve used Bing Maps.  But I guess that’s water under the bridge.

Coupled with the bizarre patent that tells you not to go down a dark street alone without a shotgun, Microsoft seems interested in mapping again after what seems like years of not caring about Bing Maps.  I suppose Windows Mobile devices use Bing Maps for routing, but who else uses them these days?  It does sound like Microsoft has a cool algorithm going on the backend and I wish them the best of luck.

How many versions of Microsoft Maps will it take for them to be successful?

Filed under Bing Maps, GIS, Microsoft Tagged with , ,

MapQuest continues to update their API

August 7, 2009 12 Comments

Well how about this?  Draggable routes in MapQuest.

One notable feature in this initial release is that Draggable Route functionality is included. This will allow developers to build applications that let their users dynamically edit their directions right from the map.

You can test it out here.  Could MapQuest under the “new AOL” become a competitor again?

Filed under GIS Tagged with , , , ,