Bing Maps is a clone of Google Maps

Almost everyone who is reading this must have read about Google Maps and used it’s functionalities and features. So I was a little curious to see what exactly did Bing Maps bring to the table. Obviously Bing is trying to capture peoples attention and rival Google which is not very easy. But a casual look at Bing Maps was quite surprising and I found Bing Maps more or less resembled a clone of Google Maps.

Below I am comparing a few features about Bing Maps and Google Maps to show how they are so similar you might mistake one for the other. Bing Maps is still a beta product and has had many recent updates. I did not expect a lot from it and was quite surprised how accurate and detailed it was even when it came to non-US or European cities.

Get Directions

• One of the first thing that is similar is when you look at getting directions. Look at the image below and see how similar are the two.
• I did a search for directions to drive around in Pune, India between two points. The search were the same on Bing Maps and Google Maps. The results were also pretty much the same.

• I expected Bing Maps to show a lot less of Pune, as I thought being new it might have a lot less details about Pune but that was not the case at all.
• Both results were accurate and detailed. The appearance of maps, directions and waypoints were eerily similar. At one point I was actually confused if I was using Google Maps or Bing Maps.
• Even the Satellite mode of Google Maps is available in Bing Maps as Aerial mode. The options to send and share maps over email are present in both in almost identical ways.
• Many people have added their business locations on Google Maps, but that is not the same with Bing Maps and that could be issue at first. I guess in time people might start listing their business addresses on Bing Maps in bigger numbers.

Try out Bing Maps and see how it compare with Google Maps. I still wonder if Microsoft with Bing Maps is indirectly telling us that Google Maps is so perfect they had to copy it function to function. Bing Maps in the form of Live Maps has been around for a while but recent additions have made it a lot like Google Maps. 😛