Microsoft, Google, Nokia, and other vendors are competing to give you free mapping services—just the kind of competition I like. Here is a quick overview of what they can do for you.
Windows Live Search for Mobile Devices
http://Mobile.Search.Live.com/about
This new free application and service has generated a lot of buzz since the beta version appeared on Microsoft's site in late November. Windows Live Search was officially announced in February. It was developed for Windows Mobile phone-enabled devices, but can also be used on a device with a cabled or Wi-Fi Internet connection. It offers a range of services, including Web search, news search, local search, maps, and directions. It also lets you get quick answers to questions, such as current stock prices or how many calories are in a pickle.
The maps and directions component installs on your device and is similar to Virtual Earth Mobile. When you search for a map, the software pulls the data from Microsoft's Virtual Earth servers, eliminating the need to store memory-intensive maps on your device. You can enter almost any start and end point to retrieve routes with turn-by-turn directions as well as maps of the route with road or aerial views.
The local search feature (Fig. 1) lets you search for local businesses, points of interest, or services on your mobile device without any typing. Based on your location, you can browse categories such as restaurants, hotels, and shopping. Search results include the address and telephone number (Fig. 2). You can save the information to Contacts, get map directions (Fig. 3), place a call, and more.
The real-time traffic reports (Fig. 4) are updated every two minutes and are available for more than 25 U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Traffic conditions are reported on local maps with simple green, yellow, and red gradients normal to congested traffic.
See http://Mobile.Search.Live.com to view a complete list of device availability and to download the software. Or, you can point your devices browser to http://Wls.Live.com to download Live Search directly to your phone.
Figs. 1-4 (top to bottom): Live Search Mobile main page; Search Results list view; Map view showing selected location; Map view of real-time traffic reports.
Virtual Earth for Windows Mobile
http://ViaVirtualEarth.com/vve/Gallery/VEMobile.ashx
Another option for using Microsoft's Virtual Earth technology and services is Virtual Earth for Windows Mobile. The Web page indicates that the application works with Windows Mobile 2003 through 5.0 devices, and does not yet mention Windows Mobile 6. This isn't an official Microsoft application, but it has been around for some time. According to online discussions, it doesn't have as many features as Windows Live Search and may eventually be superseded by the latter application.
Fig. 5: Virtual Earth Mobile displays satellite photos (shown here) or street maps.
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