I’m Chelsea from the Bing Maps team. Today, I want to share more details about one of the new features in the Bing Maps Preview called “along the route.” Our feature lets you find places along your current route, such as gas stations, coffee shops, hotels, and more. We built this feature after hearing many customers complain about not knowing where to find interesting and convenient places that are not far off their driving path. My favorite scenario to use this feature for is a road trip, so I’ll tell you about the one I have upcoming.
Road trip to college orientation
This weekend I’m headed to Samford University from Atlanta to take my little sister to her college orientation (she’ll be a freshman this fall). We’ll be leaving Atlanta mid-morning so we will probably need some caffeine along the way. I’m kind of a coffee snob, so I want to find the coffeeshop that will be on our route, and I know driving through rural Alabama options will be limited. So I’ll go ahead and do my research ahead of time.
By getting my directions from Atlanta to Samford University, I automatically see in the “along the route” option in the directions card.
All I need to do is click the coffee cup icon to see cafes along the way. The results here are chosen to be the 20 most relevant and closest cafes to my route, so I don’t have to detour too far off the highway.
If there’s a particular section of the route where I know I’ll need a break from driving, I will zoom into that area and the coffee search results will refresh based on the map I’m looking at.
Once I choose the coffee shop I’d like to go to, I can add it to my route by clicking “directions.”
So those are the basics! You could also use this feature if you’re in a hurry to a friend’s house and need to stop by the grocery store to grab a bottle of wine for the party. Or use it to find hotels on a multi-day road trip.
Try it out yourself and give us feedback. In the comments or in the General Feedback form on the Bing Maps Preview tell us what route you’re planning and if you found interesting things along the way!
For an introduction to planning your outing with Bing Maps, be sure to check out my post from last week “Going out tonight? Plan it with Bing Maps Preview“