Quick Fact
Yes, Bing Maps offers a street-level imagery feature called Streetside. You can find it on the Bing Maps website and in the Windows Maps app. Honestly, its coverage isn't as wide as Google's, but it still gives you solid 360-degree views for lots of cities and suburbs, especially across North America and Europe.
Geographic Context
Street-level pictures are now a basic part of exploring online maps. Google's version gets most of the attention, but Microsoft's Bing Maps has a real alternative with Streetside. It basically lets you step into the map. You can check out a neighborhood's vibe, find where a shop door is, or just see what a place looks like before you go. Having a few different services out there keeps everyone trying to do it better, which is great for us—we get to see the world from our couch.
Key Details
A few big names offer this kind of street-level view. Here's a quick look at the main options.
| Service/App | Street View Feature Name | Primary Availability & Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | Street View | The most comprehensive service, covering over 85 countries. Free to use. |
| Bing Maps | Streetside | Strong in North America and Europe. Integrated into Windows ecosystem. |
| Apple Maps | Look Around | High-resolution imagery focused on major cities in supported countries. |
| MapQuest | Street View | Still maintains a user base of tens of millions monthly in North America. |
| Various GPS/Nav Apps (e.g., Waze, Scout) | Varies / Integration | Many third-party navigation apps integrate Google Street View data for location previews. |
Interesting Background
Bing Streetside's story is really about how Microsoft changed its whole mapping game. For a long time, Bing Maps used a mix of its own stuff and data from other companies. Things started shifting in March 2020. That's when Microsoft began moving its platform over to base map data from TomTom, a big Dutch location tech firm Wikipedia. They finished that switch in the next few years, hoping to make things more accurate. Now, the Streetside imagery itself is a different beast—Microsoft usually gathers that with its own camera cars. Around this time, older Microsoft mapping products got phased out, making Bing Maps the main offering. All this competition has pushed image quality way up; Bing's satellite shots can show details as fine as 15 cm in cities, which makes the Streetside layer look even sharper.
Practical Information
Using street view is pretty simple, no matter which app you pick. On Bing Maps, just find the little rhomboid or person icon labeled "Streetside." It's usually in the lower-left corner or on a location's info card. Click it, and you're there (if coverage exists). For Google Maps, you drag the "Pegman" from the corner onto any street that's highlighted in blue. Both are free for regular use.
One heads-up: this imagery isn't live. The pictures you see could be months or even years old, so the actual street might look different now. They're perfect for getting a general feel for a place, but don't count on them for things like ongoing roadwork or whether a storefront has been painted. For real-time traffic, apps like Waze are typically better. But for just exploring? Bing and Google Maps have you covered, and they all work great on your phone, too.
