A year ago users of Garmin’s sport tracking devices logged into its Garmin Connect site to find a seemingly minor change. Instead of embedding Google Maps, the GPS manufacturer had switched to Microsoft’s Bing Maps. According to the 38 pages of comments in Garmin’s forums, this was in actuality a major change. A year later, Garmin responded in October by giving users the option of Bing or Google.
Facebook Timeline, the new profile design launching soon on Facebook, makes broad use of the Bing Maps API. Similarly, the Facebook Places feature also incorporated Bing, but now both maps use a different, more simplified style.
Auction giant eBay is giving its developers another way to access listings. In addition to its current eBay API, it has added support for Microsoft’s “OData,” an Open Data protocol for accessing and querying data provided by an API. Using familiar technologies, OData provides a consistent structure, with the promise of APIs that are more flexible and easier to use.
Microsoft has released a suite of tools to integrate its popular Messenger client into your website. Called Messenger Connect, the new API embeds a Windows Live Messenger chat window on your site, which enables visitors to share links, collaborate, or just stay connected to friends.
The Health team at Bing used public data to create a Health Map application (requires Silverlight) that lets users visualize a number of health indicators, such as obesity and premature births, by U.S. county.
For months, the Bing Maps site has been showing off what are essentially embedded mashups. You can search nearby tweets, FourSquare check-ins and other content from partners. Until now, it was merely a showcase of apps either written internally or by a company that Microsoft had blessed. Now, you have the opportunity to get your mashup included on Bing’s map.
Better hurry–you have passengers to pick up and only a handful of seconds to get them to their destination. TaxiCity takes place on the actual streets of Vancouver. The game was created by students using open data and the Bing Maps API.
Though Google Maps may still be the choice of most developers, Bing continues to be a contender. Microsoft evangelist Chris Pendleton points out a new Weather.com feature and mentions it has used the service since back when it was called Virtual Earth (the switch only happened this June).
Bing maps has announced that broadcasters can now freely display bird’s eye, aerial, road, hybrid, and Streetside images in their presentations.
Every site needs promotion, right? That means your new site could use a quick boost from what others have already created. This post will cover some marketing APIs, as part of our Site in a Box series.
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