Springtime is in full swing as the fragrance of blossoming flowers fills the air, newborn bunnies gather in the backyard to nibble on clover, and pilots flock to the Garmin website for… software updates?
Spring is a great time to dedicate some of your spring-cleaning time toward your GPS!
Last year, Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Nokia in Mapping. Our two companies have spent a lot of time working together, sharing information and investigating better ways provide relevant mapping information to help you find and get to where you’re going more quickly. Today, we’re excited to announce another important phase in that partnership with the launch of Nokia powered traffic results, which are rolling out today in 24 countries on Bing Maps.
The following countries will see improvements through Bing Maps as a result of our use of Nokia services:
New countries with Traffic
São Paulo, Brazil
Johannesburg, South Africa
Moscow, Russia
Mumbai, India
Improved Traffic
We’re also improving our existing traffic coverage in the US to include traffic information for side streets in addition to freeway traffic information. See below for enhanced coverage in Seattle.
Seattle, Washington
In addition to these traffic improvements, Bing Maps will also start to use Nokia’s geocoding services in a number of countries offering improved directions. This update, while not always visible to users, is another important milestone in our partnership to build the world’s best mapping platform using Nokia and Microsoft’s assets.
Thanks to our friends at Nokia for their dedication along the way. Together we have enabled a stronger Bing Maps experience and we hope Bing users in these respective countries reap the benefits of our partnership, notice an increase in address search relevance, and enjoy the addition of traffic information – especially those of you in the US who are adventurous enough to travel during the Memorial Day holiday!
Last October, we launched Our Mobile Planet, a resource enabling anyone to visualize the ways smartphones are transforming how people connect with information, each other and the places around them.
Today, we’re releasing new 2012 research data, and the findings are clear—smartphone adoption has gone global. Today, Australia, U.K., Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia and UAE each have more than 50 percent of their population on smartphones. An additional seven countries—U.S., New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland—now have greater than 40 percent smartphone penetration. In the U.S., 80 percent of smartphone owners say they don’t leave home without their device—and one in three would even give up their TV before their mobile devices!
We conducted this research to help people to better understand how mobile is changing our world. You can learn about mobile-specific usage trends, use this tool to create custom visualizations of data and more. There’s plenty to discover in the latest research—to dig into new survey data about smartphone consumers in 26 countries from around the world, read our post on the Google Mobile Ads blog or visit http://thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet.
The software update theme continues this week as we address some recent software upgrades to the G3X system. Last month, version 6.40 was released, which includes many new features and capabilities including support for GTS 8xx traffic systems, the option to display the G-meter on PFD, the option to display track-up orientation on the PFD HSI, added support for GNS 480 MapMX data and more. Get this update free from the Garmin website!
Here’s a closer look at what you’ll get with the new G3X software:
The G3X can now interface with the GTS 8XX traffic systems, allowing the G3X to display traffic information for transponder-equipped aircraft in your vicinity. To assist with traffic advisories, aural traffic alerts are possible as well.
Another new feature is MapMX, which is now available when using the GNS 480 as your external GPS navigator. This feature allows the G3X to display a more accurate flight path on the moving map page, including procedure turns and holds.
You can also now display the HSI instrument on the PFD in a track-up orientation. Put simply, this feature automatically rotates the HSI to put the aircraft’s ground track at the top, which lets you fly with the course pointer at the top of the instrument regardless of crosswinds. In this screenshot, you can see that a 26-knot direct crosswind is trying to push us off course, but the HSI has rotated to show the ground track at the top; magnetic heading is still available on the heading tape at the top of the display. This handy feature can help reduce the pilot’s workload by taking the guesswork out of wind correction angles, which makes following the desired course a “breeze”.
For those who are looking to be a little more adventurous, we’ve added a large, easy-to-read G-meter to the PFD. The range of G values displayed on the gauge can be configured to match your aircraft, and there are indicators to show the maximum positive and negative G’s recorded since last being reset by the pilot.
Bing are delighted to share the release of two Learning Snacks for Bing Maps and SQL Server Spatial Data.
These Snacks are great if you are new to mapping and want to understand how these two technologies can create a stellar solution. We hope you’re hungry! 
Bing Maps and SQL Server Spatial Data
- The Bing Maps Team