Windows 10: Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes

Brink · Jul 17, 2019

Over the last six months, the Bing Maps team has been hard at work to improve the quality of mass transit routing. Here are our three biggest improvements, which you can try out today on Bing.com and Bing.com/maps.

Real Time Updates

Real time transit trip updates provide information on if your bus or train is delayed, running on time, or even early. Our Bing Maps transit coverage consists of over 250 agencies in 9 different countries including well over 100 in the United States alone.

Trip Frequency

Trip frequency provides users with information on how often a bus or train runs – super useful for when you need to time your departure to a transit stop. For example, the Bus 560 is scheduled to depart every 30 minutes.

Alternate Routes

Finally, we have improved the logic behind alternate transit route selection and now provide alternate transit options on Bing.com as part of the Directions Answer experience. For example, if there is only one bus route that will get you from A to B, the alternate transit route options will simply be the next departure times for that bus.

Below is a screenshot that highlights each of the new transit options now available:

Let us know what you think about these latest improvements. You can connect with the team at the Bing Maps Forums to share feedback and let us know what you would like to see next.

Simon Shaprio,
Bing Maps Program Manager
Click to expand...

Source: New transit options to help get you there – Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes | Maps Blog

:)

Brink · Jul 17, 2019

Geocoding and Routing improvements added to Bing Maps

Geocoding and Routing are core services in mapping platforms. Today, the Bing Maps team is happy to announce improved algorithms and increased coverage support for these services, which also directly improve the coverage of many of the new Bing Maps Fleet Management APIs, such as the Isochrone and Distance Matrix APIs which rely on routing data.

Geocoder Improvements

The Bing Maps team has spent several years developing a new backend geocoder, which provides improved matching logic and the ability to make faster data updates. This new geocoder went into production earlier this year, and the Bing Maps developer APIs were seamlessly updated on the backend, thus instantly migrating all users to the new geocoder without any code changes required by them.

In addition to creating a new backend geocoder, the team has been working hard on increasing the support for geocoding globally. Bing Maps ranks the level of geocoding support for each country using the following criteria:

Rooftop – Addresses are resolved to the latitude/longitude coordinate at the center of the address parcel (property boundary). Rooftop has the highest level of accuracy support. Its coverage varies by country.

Address – Addresses are interpolated to a latitude/longitude coordinate on the street.

Street Name – Addresses are resolved to the latitude/longitude coordinate of the street that contains the address. The address number is not processed.

Basic – Geocoding support is limited and primarily only accurate to the city level. If an address is valid, Bing Maps attempts to resolve it, but a result is not guaranteed.

The number of countries in which Bing Maps has Rooftop or Address level detailed coverage has grown from 82 to 109 countries.

[table][tr][td]Highest Level Support[/td] [td]# of Countries[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Old Coverage[/td] [td]New Coverage[/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Rooftop[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]46[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Address[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]63[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Street Name[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]46[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Basic[/td] [td]159[/td] [td]98[/td] [/tr] [/table]

Detailed geocoding coverage information can be found here.

Routing Service Improvements

Bing Maps provides routing for the following modes of transportation: cars, trucks, walking and public transit. Bing Maps provides both real-time and predictive traffic based routing. The team is constantly tweaking and improving the algorithms and data to provide more efficient and accurate routes. Bing Maps ranks the level of standard routing support for each country using the following criteria:

Good - The country/region has detailed road data available in most populated centers and most of these have been verified for accuracy. Coverage is updated frequently. Remote areas may lack some road information.

Fair - At a minimum, the country/region has major road data available as well as some detailed road data. Most often, these roads have not been verified for accuracy. Coverage is updated over time. Please visit the map to assess if the current version meets the needs of your application.

Major Roads Only - At a minimum, the country/region coverage includes major roads. These roads have not been verified for accuracy. Coverage is updated over time. Please visit the map to assess if the current version meets the needs of your application.

The number of countries in which Bing Maps has good routing coverage has grown from 58 to 116 countries.

[table][tr][td][/td] [td]# of Countries[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Old Coverage[/td] [td]New Coverage[/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Good[/td] [td]58[/td] [td]116[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Fair[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]54[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Major Roads Only[/td] [td]113[/td] [td]83[/td] [/tr] [/table]

Detailed routing coverage information can be found here.

Truck Routing

Truck routing support was just recently added to Bing Maps and is supported in 80 countries.

Detailed truck routing coverage information can be found here.

If you have any questions or feedback about Bing Maps, please let us know on the Bing Maps forums or visit the Bing Maps website to learn more about the Bing Maps platform.

- Bing Maps Team
Click to expand...

Source: Geocoding and Routing improvements added to Bing Maps | Maps Blog

Brink · Jul 17, 2019

New route traffic coloring feature for Bing Maps

There is an old saying that you don’t know where you are going until you get there. With Bing Maps new route coloring feature, you will know right away where the delays will be along your selected route so you can change your route, your plans or your destination based on the route ahead!

For example, if you are leaving Redmond Town Center for Westlake Center in Seattle, you can see the delays on WA-520 W and I-90 W before you decide which route to take. Also, with our new route labels showing the travel mode, distance and time of each route, you can easily compare and toggle between the different routes quickly on the map.

While blue means no traffic delays, the orange and red colors highlight moderate to heavy traffic delays on the route. These are calculated based on a combination of current traffic updates and predictions from historic data depending on the length of the route.

Traffic coloring not only helps you select the best route for your trip, but can also be very useful when there are major traffic delays due to inclement weather, big events, accidents, or road construction nearby. For example, if there is an MLB or NFL game in town, you can avoid the most impacted roads near the event and choose an option that offers the least delays.

In addition, if you need to take a ferry as part of your route, Bing Maps visualizes the ferry segments using dashes to differentiate that part of the trip. The image below illustrates the route between Redmond and Discovery Bay in Washington State. Bing Maps highlights the ferry segment between Edmond and Kingston with a dashed line.

The Bing Maps Routing and Traffic Team is constantly working to make navigation and route planning easier for our users. To try out the traffic coloring feature, go to Maps.

- Bing Maps Team
Click to expand...

Source: https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2019-03/...affic-coloring

JamesLALA · Jul 17, 2019

Maps---------alternate routes

I REALLY encourage you to find a way to incorporate Alt Routes into HERE Maps. I prefer the maps over Google but without this 'simple' feature it becomes an issue when planning a trip. Also, where is contextual help? When I save a map or direction to OneNote
it seems to disappear into the ether. Shouldn't it save to the open notebook? Or Default? Or...

And speaking of trips, can you save routes and favorites in a package to save and export?. That would be great. - I think the HERE app has that?? Thanks

Windows 10: Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes

Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes

Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes

Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes

Bing Maps gets Real Time Updates, Trip Frequency, and Alternate Routes - Similar Threads - Bing Maps gets

Bing map updates

Bing map updates

How to update Bing Maps

How to update Bing Maps

New Enhancements to Bing Maps Routing and Logistics APIs

Bing Maps Routing made easier with traffic camera images and more

New route traffic coloring feature for Bing Maps

Bing Maps Routing API knows shortest route that visits all waypoints

Geocoding and Routing improvements added to Bing Maps