14 DAY TRIAL // Users that want an easy way to get an overall perspective on the evolution of the 2010 FIFA World Cup can now turn to Bing Maps. Microsoft’s online mapping, location and search platform now features an application designed to let football/soccer fans easily explore World Cup activity. The World Cup map app on Bing Maps is an excellent addition to the celebration of the world’s most popular sport, enabling fans to get a variety of details on match results, statistics, news and to even access synths from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
“The New World Cup map app highlights all the different countries participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Countries are pinned to the map with their respective flags as pushpin icons. Clicking a flag pin will tell you when their next game is and against who they play with links to the FIFA web site for the respective match. Additionally, we’re pushing down tons of information such as teams, stats and standings right in Bing Maps,” Chris Pendleton, the Bing Maps technical evangelist for Microsoft, revealed.
With the Bing Maps 2010 FIFA World Cup Application, Microsoft is delivering another example of what it is referring to as Spatial Search. According to the software giant, spatial search capabilities go beyond entering a query and receiving a list of answers. Instead, users are free to explore searches and results in relation to an actual area, in the specific case of the new World Cup map app, content from Bing Maps. The World Cup map app is more than worth a look, even if football might not be of any interest to the user, just to see what Bing Maps is capable of offering, and to witness the power of applications built on top of this platform.
“Now millions of World Cup fans can easily follow the month-long soccer finals with the Bing Maps World Cup app. In addition to group standings, the app will link by country to team stats including results and fixtures. The latest World Cup news will be supplied via an RSS feed from FIFA. Also, Stadiums will be pinned on the map; selecting a stadium will automatically zoom in on the map to the level that will display an aerial image of the stadium. Tweets that include World Cup terms will be shown. And for users who want to feel like they are there, they can check out World Cup specific 3D scenes from Photosynth. And, wouldn’t you know it we’ve updated the aerial photos just in time for World Cup. So, if you zoom to the areas in and around the stadiums you’ll see some high resolution aerial photos with the new stadiums in clear view,” Pendleton promised.