Bing Maps: Turkey and Travel

What do pistachios, Turkey, and travel have in common? In a recent post on the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler blog, we learn that a city called Gaziantep located in southeastern Turkey is the self-proclaimed pistachio capital, and apparently a trip there is lovely and quite affordable.

While the blog itself is a good read, the New York Times needed an easy way for readers to visually follow the blogger on his 10-week Mediterranean adventure this summer. So they turned to Bing Maps.

Using Bing Maps developer tools, the New York Times created a mapping feature that shows the blogger’s current location, where he had been, and where he was going. Readers just click to navigate between locations, easily moving between blog posts and traveling the Mediterranean vicariously through the Frugal Traveler.

FrugalTraveler_Map2

If you’re interested in learning more about dev APIs and what you can do with them, visit the Bing Maps site.

Panoramio- Join a photo community to match your interests

When I get home, I upload my photos to Panoramio and position them on the map. Pictures uploaded to Panoramio can be featured in the “Photos” layer of Google Earth and Google Maps, which means that I can share my travel experiences with others and, in return, explore places around the world through the eyes of other photographers.

Starting today, you can share your passions through photographs more collaboratively with Panoramio Groups. This new feature lets you create a sub-community within Panoramio around a topic you’re passionate about, so you can easily engage with like-minded photographers and hobbyists.

 

 

Panoramio is an online community of people that share and explore photos of the world.

For example, in my trips around the world, I always take the time to enjoy the local cuisine, like Costa Brava’s arròs negre. So I created a group called “Food,” to give others a “taste” of that region and get a glimpse of what fellow foodies are feasting on. My fellow group members—and by all means I hope you’ll become one of them!—can add their own photos, browse others’ and get culinary and travel inspiration.

Panoramio Groups allow members to share photos and start discussions on a given topic.

To share your own interests and passions through photos, hop over to Panoramio and create your own group or join an existing one from the Groups Directory. You can show off your photos of your favorite restaurant, the most beautiful sunset you’ve seen, the latest lighthouse you’ve visited, or the cutest dog from each continent. Whatever it is, try starting a discussion about your favorite topics and share what matters to you with others.

Google Street View visit Monaco

Last week the spotlight was on Monaco for the royal wedding between Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock. Today we are excited to announce that we are bringing Street View in Google Maps to the glamorous principality.

Monaco may be the second smallest country in the world, only the Vatican City is smaller, but it has many interesting sites and roads.

You can now explore the streets made famous by the annual Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world. The circuit snakes around the principality and is known for its tight corners and the legendary tunnel.

View Larger Map

 

Cathédrale de Monaco


Monaco’s elegant hotels and casinos are also now available on Street View, along with its stunning views of the French Rivieria and the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

Port de Cap d’Ail, Monaco


We hope you enjoy this virtual trip to Monaco, the 30th country where immersive, 360-degree street-level views are now available on Google Maps. We’re thrilled to share the new imagery with you on the heels of last week’s biggest Street View update ever, and look forward to bringing many more locales to Street View for you to explore.