Microsoft is not abandoning Maps for Windows 10, new updates are planned
By Mayank Parmar - April 5, 2018
While Windows 10 Maps app content is outdated, Microsoft says that the company is still committed to its mapping solutions. The outdated content in Windows 10 Maps has raised questions as the company’s mapping solution is still powered by HERE Maps. Windows 10 Maps app is suffering from an outdated content problem, although the company official has explained why some maps content is outdated.
First and foremost, not all content in the Maps are outdated and Microsoft is still committed to its mapping solutions. Loren E. Hillberg, Partner, Group Program Manager, Bing Maps team from Microsoft said in an interview that the company is committed to keeping its mapping solutions alive and new updates are planned for summer.
Loren E. Hillberg says that sometimes that updated content could arrive for users slower than expected. Microsoft by no means is looking into abandoning them, a new update is projected to arrive this summer.
Microsoft also explains that it takes more time to process map data as the data is provided by HERE, this could delay the new content rollout and the duration also depends on how large the update is.
“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,” a Microsoft official said.
Loren E. Hillberg also confirmed that Microsoft will continue to invest in the maps and a new update will be still delivered to the users. In other words, it is a good news for all Windows 10 Mobile users who don’t want to switch to a different platform.
Of course, the Microsoft Store (formerly Windows Store) has third-party Google Maps apps but this isn’t the most convenient workaround.
Back in 2016, Microsoft confirmed that the company will still use the map data provided by HERE. In the same year, Microsoft and HERE maps signed a new multi-year strategic commercial agreement, which allowed the software giant to integrate HERE services and data into Bing Maps and even Cortana. The best part of the agreement is that Microsoft still has access to some of the most up-to-date and accurate map contents available on the market.
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Ligt er nogal dik bovenop - zo lijkt het - dat Microsoft geen prettige samenwerking heeft met HERE, maar nog vastzit aan de deal van 2016.
Tja, voor een slordige 3 miljard kan Microsoft ook TT inlijven, kaartenleveracier worden voor Apollo and-what-not, LBS veilig gesteld voor Azure en Bing, Telematics mag naar bv. Verizon of Vodafone, en de Founders mogen blijven spelen met consumer.