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Live Search Maps: Update brings improvements

4 Sep. 2008 | Author: AWo | german

Almost exactly a year ago Microsoft launched the local search service Live Search Maps, in cooperation with suchen.de (see our post). In the interim, much has happened, and recently there has been a further update.

CollectionsNew on the scene is the “Collections” feature – as explained by Microsoft business manager Toni Pelg in Windows Live Blog – which is a collection of interesting locations, including attractions, parks or good restaurants.  These Collections are accessible either through the “Collections” link or via the menu item “Erkunden Sie die Welt” [en=discover the world] which is visible on the start page of any map view, as long as one has zoomed in sufficiently. On clicking, a results links list appears alongside the map view, gathered from various websites, and can be sorted and displayed according to distance, relevance or date. Simultaneously, these external links are localized on the maps view with icons which one can open per mouse-over.

In a press release, Microsoft details that these Collections are gathered from users the world over. This is noticeable as entries are displayed in all possible languages, which is actually not always helpful, unless one is a languages wiz! Contrary to what Microsoft says, the contents is not exclusively generated by other users (UGC) but obvious exceptions that we discovered included data from tagesschau.de. Something else we noticed is that when we clicked on “More Info” [de=Mehr Info] where the user should be taken to ‘external sources with additional information’, we frequently landed on an empty page devoid of search results – merely a further map view. And often one finds a page with multiple copies of the same link. All in all this new feature seems still half baked.

Live Search Maps & ParksMore practical are some of the other improvements on Live Search Maps. The user can now display labels in Bird’s Eye/Aerial view, including street names, building notations etc., which certainly aids navigation. And the Pedestrian-Feature [de=Fußweg] works well -using this one can calculate foot routes up to 30km.  Live Search Maps takes into account many paths through parks and green zones.  Also access to local companies has been improved, that is local search results lists now often include detailed information such as opening times.  The user can also call the listing gratis, as well as import contact details with a few mouse clicks directly into mail programs accepting vcards [Windows = Outlook; Mac = Entourage or Mail].

Live Search Maps: Update brings improvements
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features | Tags: , , , ,

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