Bing Maps (Beta) delivers an amazing experience and then some!

Have you checked out Bing Maps Beta yet?? If not, be prepared to be impressed! From the get go, the app loads up fast and smooth, delivering a very appealing map showing off the city of Denver (likely detected via my IP location). I’m also presented with local weather conditions, view images of the area, an option to obtain driving directions, or explore what’s nearby. Amazing features and functionality to be found includes:

amazing experience via SilverLight
Fast!
Awesome imagery
Local search and information at your finger tips
Bird’s eye imagery
access to amazing Photosynths and 3D imagery

The map type is set via default to be automatic (changes according to my scale factor) although I also have options for road, aerial, or birds eye. Agina, the fast fading in and out via SilverLight provides a very nice effect and great user experience – panning is super fast and the POI display is impressive to say the least! I used Coor’s Field, Denver, CO as my test location.

The directions I tested from home to Coors Field were delivered fast and were accurate. If you want to really be wow’ed go check out your neighborhood using the Bird’s Eye view… wow! Finally, a very nice feature is the way that your map appears clean when you remove the mouse from the display… then, place your mouse on the map and the data and POI information as well as street center lines fade back into the display.. very cool!

See maps.bing.com

A very cool option is the Bing “My Places”… simply click on places of interest and add them to your saved places. Then you can optionally view only your places… they appear highlighted – see above.