Testing Bing, Part 2: The Features – Maps

Bing and Google both have map search. They’re both really good.

In this example, Bing knew exactly what to do with my search, and Google had no clue. I’m not quite willing to admit that Bing has the upper hand on search here – there are times that Google is smarter – but Bing certainly isn’t worse.

In terms of map coverage, Google and Bing are roughly equal. Some places are better covered by one service, some by the other. They’re both aggressively improving this. Google has Street View, Bing has Bird’s Eye. Bing has 3D mode, Google has Google Earth. They both have nice UIs here.

What more can I say? This is a huge area, and is used by many people. They both provide a huge feature set here – I’m still kind of amazed this is all free – but they’re so similar that it all comes down to personal preference. I probably prefer Bing’s UI, but I can’t really justify why.

The verdict: Tie. Pick whichever you like. If it’s not working for you, then try the other.