Why are Bing Maps so much worse than Google Maps

I really dont know the answer to this but it seems to me that Google Maps are the one to beat. It seems to have been like that for years.

So does anyone know why Microsoft’s Bing Maps is so far behind the experience of Google Maps?

Conversation 14 comments

  • lordbaal1

    04 March, 2017 - 9:32 pm

    <p>Bing maps is that bad. It works just as good as Google maps.</p>

    • Tiny

      Premium Member
      04 March, 2017 - 9:51 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#88392"><em>In reply to lordbaal1:</em></a></blockquote><p>I think you may have left a "not" out of your reply.</p><p><br></p><p>Although I haven't done a specific search, I think most reviews will probably say that Google is best and Bing is catching up.</p>

    • maethorechannen

      Premium Member
      06 March, 2017 - 5:08 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#88392"><em>In reply to lordbaal1:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I find Bing's POIs for London can be wildly inaccurate. Especially for hotels.</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    05 March, 2017 - 7:07 am

    <p>The problem could be twofold. Bing Maps gets its data from HERE maps – so if you have a problem with inaccurate maps, then you can't really blame Microsoft for that. But if you're talking about the front-end, the app layout and design, then yes, the Bing maps app design is not as well thought out as Google's. </p><p>Here's the thing though….if you use HERE's app (HereWeGo) on Android you'll see the app's design is not as behind as Bing maps. So I would chalk it up to bad app design chops from Microsoft. That, or they don't care about mapping.</p><p>Another thing you might be thinking about is the feature set that Google Maps has, like public transit information and integration with Uber. Those are things missing from Bing maps as well. HERE Maps actually has transit information as well so i'm not sure why Bing maps doesn't have it. Oh well.</p><p>HERE maps will continue to improve for driving, as it's now owned by a consortium of car makers and they rely on HERE maps for mapping data in the car. For us consumers, Google maps is designed for us.</p>

    • ecumenical

      05 March, 2017 - 10:43 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#88462"><em>In reply to rameshthanikodi:</em></a></blockquote><p>It also depends on where you are. Here maps absolutely destroys Google in China, for instance, which is a pretty significant market. You can use the public transit directions in Here to get around on buses in any major Chinese city, but Google doesn't even know that entire subway lines exist.</p><p>I haven't been there since the Nokia/MS split, though, so no idea how Bing maps specifically stacks up. </p>

      • rameshthanikodi

        06 March, 2017 - 8:48 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#88606">In reply to ecumenical:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's true…lol. China doesn't like Google. They trust Microsoft more.</p><p>Another dude says HERE/Bing maps does have public transit, so it looks like it's a location thing. I just checked again, Bing shows no public transit in my city (even though I live in a city where the majority takes public transit and our public transit is one of the best). HERE maps shows public transit….weird.</p>

  • Jules Wombat

    05 March, 2017 - 8:56 am

    <p>As a general comment: Google is a Global company interested in delivering first class consumer services. Microsoft is an Enterprise brand, with little/no motivation on consumer services, especially outside the US.&nbsp;</p><p>But wrt to map detail, that is dependent upon third party map providers&nbsp;source, and in this case HERE maps.&nbsp;But here again &nbsp;Microsoft showed little interest in buying up HERE maps when it was being sold off by Nokia.&nbsp; Its just a matter of priorities, and maps are not a big deal to Satya or Microsoft interests.&nbsp;</p><p>However I do&nbsp;find, for driving,&nbsp;the accurate speed limit monitoring on HERE maps on my Windows Phone to be superior. Its just disappointing that&nbsp;public transit services and traffic congestion are not so good. &nbsp;</p>

  • lordbaal1

    05 March, 2017 - 11:41 am

    <p>It seems like people talk about it but haven't used it, or used it in a while.</p><p>I don't have a car, so I'm don't know about that. But they do have public transit. But not local public transit, Google maps doesn't have that either. They both have the same options for the light rail, NJT trains and buses, and path train.</p><p>But Bing or Google have for local buses.</p><p>You can save places in both. In Bing, it will have your saved places across the mobile, desktop app, and the website.</p>

  • Tony Barrett

    06 March, 2017 - 8:51 am

    <p>You get the feeling MS are just trying *too* hard with products like Bing and Bing Maps. It's like they were so far behind, they've had to start from scratch, but aren't actually doing what they're doing for the benefit of the customer, but more for the benefit of Microsoft. Many of their other products fall into this trap too – Windows 10 being one of them.</p><p><br></p><p>These products aren't inherently bad, they just don't ask the right questions about what people want, and then end up telling people this is what you're going to have, because we know best. MS are also so US focused, it's like nothing else matters.</p>

  • evox81

    Premium Member
    06 March, 2017 - 9:23 am

    <p>I'm curious about the context of your question. Is there are particular way you find Bing Maps to be lacking relative to Google? When I switched from Android to Windows Phone in 2014 (I know, by that point most people were going the other direction) the loss of Google Maps was one of my primary concerns. However, I have personally&nbsp;never found the experience to be lacking, with the exception of the navigation experience in the early WM10 days. </p>

    • Nicholas Kathrein

      06 March, 2017 - 10:41 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#88654">In reply to evox81:</a></em></blockquote><p>Have you tried the current version on Android? If not that might be why you don't see the difference.</p>

      • evox81

        Premium Member
        07 March, 2017 - 10:18 am

        <blockquote><a href="#88666"><em>In reply to Nicholas Kathrein:</em></a></blockquote><p>Perhaps some context should be added for my response: When I think of maps, my primary focus tends to be on whether or not I can find (and then get to) the places I need. In that regard, they both have (and do) serve me equally well. I agree the Google Maps APP is certainly more polished, but when it comes to what's important, they both get the job done.</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    06 March, 2017 - 12:32 pm

    <p>I imagine Google Maps benefits from having a much larger user base to provide feedback. Since I got a Nexus 5X about a year ago I'm constantly getting requests from Google Maps to improve the service by uploading photos, providing business reviews, confirming store hours and answering a host of questions about a location (e.g. is it good for families/groups/etc, do they offer takeout or delivery, is there on-site parking, etc., etc.). Even if only a small percent of people provide this information, Google has millions of active users updating the service every hour of every day.</p><p>I think if Bing Maps had more users they'd be a bit better. They were certainly responsive in a recent example. On Friday morning I submitted a suggestion to improve how they labelled a local park. I got an email from Bing Maps on Saturday morning to say the change had been made. </p><p>One thing I don't like about Google Maps is the way they display the Google Earth view once you zoom in or when you use the 3D view. It used to just be a high-res satellite photo. Now they convert it into something that looks like a bad video game, or a photo that has been artificially enhanced with drastic contrast and saturation algorithms.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    09 March, 2017 - 1:47 pm

    <p>You haven't really given specifics of what you feel is lacking, so here's my .02.</p><p>After Google Maps led me to dead end roads a few times and some crazy routes (multiple left turns taking me in a loop), I stopped using it for navigation.&nbsp; Interestingly, Waze, which is owned by Google, has never given me a problem.&nbsp; My only complaint with the Maps app on WP is that it doesn't do a great job of routing around traffic.&nbsp; I haven't used it in 6 months, so perhaps it has gotten better.&nbsp; My preference is still Waze for navigation.</p><p>As far as using maps.google.com or maps.bing.com on my desktop/laptop, I find them pretty comparable for my use–looking up an address or checking travel times and traffic.&nbsp; Google's relatively recent addition of things like popular times is a nice feature that I wish Bing had.&nbsp; But it isn't enough to make me switch because the fact that a restaurant is busier at lunch or dinner isn't all that surprising or useful.</p><p>My conclusion is that neither are all that much better than the other, at least for my usage.&nbsp; And I'd rather support the 2nd place option since competition is always good.</p>

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