14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has crowned the King of Bing Maps, essentially announcing the winner of a competition that the company debuted in mid-June 2010.
The contest was designed to help spread the world of the new development resources available for Microsoft’s mapping, search and location platform.
At the same time, the challenge was of course an excellent opportunity for the company to help attract more developers to Bing Maps, by showing that the platform is capable of supporting a wide range of applications.
According to the software giant, the new crowned King of Bing Maps is Ricky Brundritt the developer of an application dubbed Taxi Fare Calculator.
“The Grand Prize-winning Map App helps locals and travelers alike by estimating the total fare and showing the quickest route,” revealed Chris Pendleton, the Bing Maps Technical Evangelist for Microsoft.
“The app covers major metro areas in the United States as well as 18 more cities worldwide. Brundritt won $1,000 for his creativity,” he added.
There are two additional winners selected by Microsoft. According to Pendleton a jury selected all the winners.
“Second Place – Avalara, GeoSales Tax - GeoSales Tax overlays a heat map over the United States to display tax rates,” Pendleton noted.
“Third Place – Infusion Development, Ricky’s Data Viewer - Data Viewer is an easy way to see data on Bing Maps without having to build anything first,” the evangelist said.
All three applications are available via the Bing Maps App Gallery for users to try. Of course, developers can also find some inspiration in the creations already available on the app gallery from Microsoft and other third-party devs and start building projects themselves.
Microsoft has recently released the Bing Maps SDK, streamlining the process of developing apps for the platform.