14 DAY TRIAL // Despite using HERE maps, Microsoft Windows 10 Maps app is suffering from an outdated content problem, which in the past raised questions as to how committed the company actually is to keep its mapping solutions alive.
While there were people who claimed that Microsoft could even abandon these apps, a company official has finally explained why it sometimes happens to discover outdated maps on Bing Maps and in Windows 10 Maps app, emphasizing that the software giant is by no means looking into abandoning them.
Loren E. Hillberg, Partner, Group Program Manager, Bing Maps team, Microsoft, told AAWP that it takes more time to process map data provided by HERE, and depending on how large the update is, new content could sometime arrive for users slower than expected. A new update is projected to see daylight this summer, he said.
Map update coming in the summer
“I would like to give you some sense of what we are doing and how we will be working on this in the future. As you pointed out, in some cases our maps data is stale. As you are aware, we get our underlying map data from HERE and then process this data to bring it into our Bing Maps and Windows Map App experiences. Occasionally this process encounters delays. However, we have been speeding up our data processing and expect an update to be available this summer,” the Microsoft official explained.
“We continue to invest in our maps and will continue to enhance data freshness as we move forward. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, this type of delay will be a thing of the past.”
Such an announcement can only be good news especially for Windows 10 Mobile users who don’t want to switch to a different platform for the time being, as their options are limited when it comes to mapping solutions.
Of course, using Google Maps in a browser isn’t the most convenient workaround, and Microsoft offering outdated maps made many believe that the company could abandon the project and thus give them another reason to switch to Android or iOS.