Introduction:
When it comes to maps
over internet, we go to google.com and then click on ‘Maps’ tab. Google maps
are common and popular among people due to brand name of ‘Google Inc.’. Most of
non-US people prefer Google maps as it is by default installed on their mobile
phones but there is better alternative for Google mapping project. Microsoft,
most trustworthy software company in the world has recently updated their
mapping service ‘Bing Maps’ with improved clarity and accuracy.
Types
of Map views:
If you are wishing to
view same place or route with different views, I will suggest Bing Maps. You can
check a place (provided not all places are available with all views). Both
services facilitate Satellite,
Hybrid, Street, Traffic, 3D views but Bing maps additionally provide Road,
Bird's Eye, London Street Map, Ordnance Survey Map, Venue Maps view. I like
Birds Eye view in most cases.
User
Friendliness:
Google is more
user-friendly as it is popular in recent time and people know how to use it.
Bing maps are getting better now and I am sure that one day they will beat
Google Maps. Microsoft has added 165 TeraByte images to Bing Maps center. It
has considerably improved their performance.
Functionality
and Integration:
Today, Google provides
more functionality as they have tie-ups with most of leading social networking
companies. If you are Facebook lover, then Bing is best for you because Facebook prefers Bing to locate places and people interests.
Web
browser compatibility:
Google leads Bing in
web browser compatibility as it has more tie-ups with browsers and most of
browsers have accepted Google as their standard search engine. Google maps are
able to run on popular web browsers namely Internet Explorer 7+, Apple Safari3+,
Firefox 2.0.0.8, Opera 8.02+, Google Chrome1+ where as Bing officially supports
only 3 web browsers which includes Internet explorer 6+, Apple Safari 3+ and
Firefox 2.0+.
Technological
advantages:
Nowadays, Bing is
introducing advanced technological packages to improve their mapping service
but Google has gone too far in this scenario with integration of Javascript,
XMLHttprequest (Ajax), Hidden iframe, XMLTProcessor, JSON, XML and WebGL. In
comparison, Bing goes with only Javascript, Ajax and .NET
Bottom
Line:
Choosing correct map
service depend on your internet connection speed. You need fair speed to run any
map website but bing requires little bit more bandwidth for smooth navigation.
Pratik Joshi
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