Microsoft has rolled out a major update to its Bing Maps service, adding 13 million square kilometers or 315.92 terabytes of new aerial imagery from around the world. Locations that benefit from the latest update are Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland, Maritimes Alps, France, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Hugh Town, Scilly Isles, England.
This is considered to be the first major update to Bing’s imagery feature since June when Microsoft had added 270TB of high resolution satellite aerial imagery of destinations such as Rome, Kaanapali, Milan and Stravanger. With this update, Bing had published a total of 1,452,958 sq km, or half a petabyte of data, of Bird’s Eye scenes from around the world.
Microsoft has been working to improve its maps service in a bid to compete with Google Maps. Google has added quite a few ‘Street Views’, 360 degree imagery, of various locations. Last year, Google updated Earth and Maps with high resolution aerial and satellite imagery for a number of new cities and has also added 45-degree imagery for scores of locales across the globe.
In the meanwhile, check out High-resolution nadir or “straight down” orthophotographs taken by Bing Maps team.
Source: Bing