Microsoft Maps team has got a nack for their timing. Its been only days Here Maps announced their exit, and Maps team has delivered a solid update for both Windows 10 Mobile and PC.
Multiple Searches & Directions at the same time :
Its pretty common for anybody these days to make multiple searches at any given time. You might be looking for a hotel at one place, and a theatre in another direction. Or May be your friend wants you to search for something when you are already in between of something.Windows 10 Maps now have TABS, just like Edge or another browser.
Here is how to use it:
- Open Maps, tap on the search button and then type in your search.
- To open another search in parallel, hit the search button again. Type what you want to search to see the result.
- To switch between then, look for a tab switcher which on the menu bar ( two squares on top of each other).
- It is easy to switch between them because they are labeled with the search term or the place you where finding.
That said, the search results stay till the map is either getting used or at least in the background. So when you switch back you don’t have to restart again. However if you make an exit from the map or close it, those tabs will be gone but it will remember the searches you made so they appear when you type again. So yes you can still use, and explore other parts of the map while your search results are minimised.
Offline Favorites:
This is the second major improvement for the maps. You can now check on your favourites even when offline. You can add notes to keep track of things. So for example if you have marked a Mall as your favourite add labels of grocery item or something you cant forget to skip. I hope one day we will have solid integration with OneNote.
Other Improvements in Maps:
- For those markets that offer nearby search results, we’ve made improvements to our algorithms that result in closer and better search results.
- We added search to 3D cities so you no longer have to scroll to find the city you’re looking for.
- When Cortana is enabled, you will receive turn-by-turn directions in Cortana’s voice, currently supported for English (United States), English (United Kingdom), Simplified Chinese (China), French (France), Italian (Italy), German (Germany) and Spanish (Spain).
- It is easier for you to follow your public transit route and know when it’s time to get off the bus with updated turn-by-turn instructions.
- Improvements to the UI of turn-by-turn instructions to improve glanceability and the layout in landscape mode.
This update is available for devices on Windows 10 Mobile 14XXX aka Restore branch. I will be testing this map out during next week, and will come back with more update, and how the experience was.