14 DAY TRIAL // Navigating airports is now easier thanks to a new Bing Maps update, since Microsoft has mapped a range of locations, making them available to all users via its search / decision engine. The Redmond company was already offering popular venue maps for Bing Maps, and airport maps are just the latest addition, revealed Philomena Lobo – product manager and Roberto Bojorquez Alfaro – program manager, Bing Maps.
What users of Bing Maps get is not only a simpler way to get to the gate to board their plane, but complex airport maps helping them deal with every task they need.
“Airport maps include information on parking garages, ticket counter location, terminals and gates, baggage claims, currency exchange and more! You’ll also see a sortable directory of airlines, cafes and restaurants,” Bojorquez said.
At the time of this article the new Bing Airport Maps cover no less than 42 airports in the United States.
The software giant notes that it tried to cover the majority of medium to large airports in the U.S., but the promise is that additional venues will be added in the future, although the company did not say when.
Bing Maps needs to start covering airports outside of the U.S. as well, at least the major hubs worldwide, and I’m sure that there’ll be international customers jumping at the chance of using this service.
“We’ve made locating airport maps an easy task from your desktop. There are two ways to do this. Just search for the airport (by name, city, or even code) on Bing Maps, and zoom in using map. Search for your flight status on Bing (for example: CO 1665), and click on the map link besides the airport to see its map,” Bojorquez added.
“You can also view different levels within your selected venue by clicking the “Level” button at the top of the screen and then selecting the correct level from the provided list.”