Microsoft has updated Bing Maps with a new traffic camera option that allows users to view video feeds from one of thousands of traffic cameras located around the globe. The idea is that seeing the actual current conditions beats out any weather and traffic report, and also gives travelers a bit of an idea of what to expect in a region. The feature allows multiple camera feeds to be monitored at once, as well.
Uber announced a new partnership with mapping and navigation company TomTom today, allowing the ride-sharing service to strengthen the traffic and map data within its own apps. The deal is seen as follow-up move after Uber failed in its attempt to purchase the HERE mapping service from Nokia earlier this year. Uber has long been reliant on third-party maps, including Google Maps, but the multi-year deal with TomTom simply adds another source for them to draw from.
Google Maps is updated to include the prices of gasoline at gas stations throughout the United States. While a previous update included standard prices at some gas stations, this newest version includes prices for Diesel, Midgrade, Premium, and Regular gasoline as well. At the time this article is being published, you may not be able to see any of these gas prices live on Google Maps. You might also not be able to see them when you upgrade with the newest APK - Google will activate this feature very, very soon.
While Apple Maps didn't get much attention among all the new features that debuted with iOS 9, and it may still lag behind Google Maps when it comes to popularity, Apple continues to expand and improve its own service. In this case, Apple Maps' unique flagship feature, 3D Flyovers, was updated this week to include almost 20 new cities and locations around the world, including several in the countries of Germany, Spain, and Japan.
Apple has quietly snapped up a mapping analytics company, as it strengthens the challenge Apple Maps presents to arch rival Google Maps. The latest acquisition is Mapsense, sources tell Re/code, a San Francisco startup which promises cloud-based visualizations and analytics of geo-data.
Trying to make a bigger claim on the maps and navigation market, Apple has extended its admittedly captivating 3D flyover feature to 21 new areas spread across Europe, Mexico, and one in Japan. Now both local and tourists can enjoy an almost breathtaking digital 3D view of these places. But more than just a pretty sight, the 3D visualization of these maps could help give users a more solid grasp (pun totally intended) of the topography as well as the landmarks of a given area.
![German car consortium ready to pay for Nokia’s HERE maps [UPDATE]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/here-maps.jpg)
If this latest bit is true, Nokia might soon finally be able to unburden itself of yet another business tangential to its new found focus in networking technology. As earlier reported, a consortium of German automobile makers, namely Daimler, BMW, and Audi, are looking into purchasing Nokia's HERE maps business. Now it seems that the ball has started rolling, as the companies are said to have agreed to dole out 2.9 billion EUR, roughly $3.2 billion, to buy out what is probably the third, or even second, most popular map and navigation product in the market.
Google's Street View cars are great at providing detailed maps and imagery of roads and intersections, but what if they could collect more data to add to their maps, like the quality of air in an area? That's just what Aclima hopes to achieve, as they've just announced a partnership with Google that will put their environmental sensors on a handful of Street View cars in a new pilot program aimed at improving pollution awareness.
Nokia has spent several years focusing on its HERE maps and the related technology, and for a small period of that time it has been working to offload the business onto someone else. Uber reportedly had a bid in for HERE at one point, as did Google. The latter of those two companies, according to sources that cropped up in May, spurred a trio of German auto makers to band together in a joint effort to block Google. Enter the latest round of sources and the info they bring: it looks like those auto makers may prove successful in their effort.
Google has announced that it is reopening Map Maker up to editing in early August. Map Maker editing was blocked after pranks were played using the map editing feature. The most notable prank carried out using the Google Map Maker editing feature was the inclusion of the Android mascot urinating on the Apple logo. Google says that this time around, it is looking for users to have more influence over the edits in their specific countries.
Nokia has announced its HERE for Android public beta, allowing Android users (most of them, anyway) to join its public beta group for access to the mapping app’s newest features. As with other public betas, this new arrival is to help the company gather feedback and performance data from across many Android devices and users, and to subsequently iron out any problems before releasing the update to the public in general. There are some requirements to get onboard with it, though.
Microsoft has completely redesigned Bing Maps, it has announced, doing so from a place of ample user feedback and big ambitions. The updated maps are currently in a preview that is available to anyone who wants to opt-in to it, assuming that person is located in the US/UK, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, or South Africa. Anyone outside of those regions will eventually get access to it, but it won’t be for a little while. The update pulls in a bunch of data and presents it all in one place, including a new layout and handy “results card”.