Bing Maps Loses its Beta Tag, Adds New Features

While Microsoft’s Bing is still in its infancy, it’s taking a bold step in dropping its beta tag. “removing the beta tag has so many implications as a Microsoft asset in terms of what you can expect moving forward…reliability, supportability, and continued innovation and investment to name a few”, writes Bing.

Along with the announcement of a beta-less Bing comes two new features, Destination Maps and Local Events. Bing’s blog states, “Bing Maps newest application Local Events allows you to search for what’s happening around where you plan to be. Or, even better, where you may not plan to be but will end up! Load the Local Events application and navigate to your favorite destination to see events pinned to the map”. Users can also filter out the time and date of events. As for Destination Maps, Bing states, “Use the Destination Maps application just specify a place (such as Club XS in Las Vegas); set the area of interest by dragging the sides of the on-map square to include all the areas people are coming from; then give the map a title”. Bing appears to have a goal of raising interaction with their maps. Could this give them an edge against Google Maps? It might still be too early to tell. For one, Bing’s only directions available are those through driving, whereas Google Maps offers walking and sometimes public transportation routes. Have you started using Bing Maps yet?