Posts Tagged ‘Routenplaner’
Live Search Maps: New RoutePlanner functionality
4 Jun. 2008 | Author: Recently the German edition of the Microsoft local search service, Live Search Maps, allows direct access to route planning from the map view.
Toni Pelg, a Business Manager at Microsoft, detailed this development in the Windows Live Blog.
To activate the Route Planner from within the maps, one uses a right-click (Control+click for Mac) with the mouse, on the desired start location on the map, and then selects in the resulting Pop-up menu “Route from…” [de=Route von]. At this point, the Route Planner opens within the browser window, with the selected location registering automatically as the start point. The destination is selected similarly. Alternatively, one is able to manually enter the destination in the Destination field. After clicking the “RoutePlan” button, the desired routing is generated.
This new feature also functions in all view types – map, aerial, hybrid and “bird’s eye view.”
Google Maps: Route Planning with Street View
The USA-version of Google Maps now offers yet another new feature. The search engine giant has now integrated its panorama view “Street View” into its route planner.
Thereby users are able to orient themselves before their journey as to the waypoints and local features, as outlined by Google staffer Andy Szybalski in Google Lat Long Blog. This works only for localities where street views have been documented and released. Whether or not this feature is available, is indicated by a camera icon within the route instructions generated.
With a click on the photo icon, the street view opens on the map, for the specified location. Using the fat white arrow, one is able to manipulate the view to gain an ‘actual’ idea of the planned stretch of roadway, seeing attractions, speed limits or the construction/layout of the street in question.
Google has also provided a short video to enlarge on the details of this new function.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features | 
Tags: google maps, lokale Informationen, Maps, Panoramaansicht, Routenplaner, street view | 
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Live Search Maps: another update
The German-version of the local search engine Live Search Maps, operated by Microsoft, has recently been pepped up with several improvements.
These new features are described by Toni Pelg, a Business Manager at Microsoft, in a post on Windows Live Blog.
The search results – generated by suchen.de – are now sorted according to the distance from the entered location. Additionally, duplicate results have been reduced significantly. These measures should increase the search speed and the overview clarity.
Not only the search performance has been improved, but also the content has been updated and tweaked. Users are now able to find more German towns and cities, using the Bird’s Eye view [de=Vogelperspektive). Pelg listed the newly updated locations as including Düsseldorf, Essen, Koblenz, Neuwied, Neuss, Detmold, Gütersloh, Gummersbach, Nordhorn and Paderborn.
The most extensive improvements concern the Route Planner. One can now link directly to this page, and use the facility without entering start and finish locations, according to Pelg. This allows the Route Planner results to be added to bookmarks/favorites. Website operators are now also able to embed the results in their web pages. Further it is also possible to print out the generated route plan, by selecting the printer icon (in the menu bar, on the right) and then decide whether to choose the instructions in Text form, Map form or both of these for the printed output.
