I can’t remember whether it was Ignite or the Surface launch this year but I was struck by the use of Bing Maps. It has rattled around in my head for a while but I couldn’t really figure out why I was bothered.
At one point the demo was all about a hiking trip. The new collections feature in chromium Edge (Chredge) seemed to be the focus. I can’t remember exactly what the context was but I now realise why it bothered me. The demo had out the hiking trip together as a neat list in the browser linked to Bing Maps. In a way this is something I do all the time. Not exactly with collections but definitely with maps. On my WindowsPhone I was able to use the maps app with the places I picked on Bing Maps. It was all linked to my Microsoft account.
Things have changed now. I have to use Google Maps. Favourites have to be on Google Maps. This is down to Bing Maps not being updated very often, generally being very poor and also Microsoft don’t actually have a way of taking directions with you on the move. You literally can’t plan a trip with Bing Maps and then later use your mobile phone to navigate because Bing Maps doesn’t exist on IOS or Android.
Back to those demos using Bing Maps. I get why Microsoft wants to demo it’s own property. I do. However, it’s ridiculous because mapping is something you want to take with you on a mobile phone. A dual screen device would be great for mapping. However, the new Android Surface Duo will have Google Maps.
It bothers me that the most common use case for planning on Bing Maps on a PC is to take the plan with you on mobile. The problem is you can’t.