Bing Maps Beta

Microsoft has released a new version of Bing Maps that is powered by Silverlight.

http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/

An article on Mashable summed it up nicely:

“The new Bing Maps now boasts a Silverlight interface, its own version of Street View (called Street Side), Photosynth and Twitter integration–it even has an app store.”

From what I’ve read reviews are fairly positive, with speed being the only real complaint. Here’s an excerpt from an article published yesterday on Ars Technica:

“The Silverlight version meshes together Road and Aerial modes: you start by seeing roads and their names, zoom in a bit further to see the aerial photography for the area, and then zoom in yet again to see the streetside view of the area. Of course, the imagery for these features aren't supported everywhere, but where they are, they work quite well and you can zoom, pan, and move around with ease. Everything transitions very smoothly, and Microsoft clearly made a point to make everything pretty. Unfortunately, the performance is definitely lacking.”