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Bing has unveiled some changes to Bing Maps today that give users a much better view of the street. The newly improved Streetside feature in Bing Maps doesn't just show you the street, but lets you pan up and down it with a seamless, panoramic view of the surrounding location.

Microsoft has just released a new app for the iPhone - Photosynth that lets you capture 360° images and then share them with others.

There are several panorama apps available for the iPhone, each with different levels of ease with capturing an expansive view of a particular room. Photosynth stands out as you can capture images not just along a horizontal line, but in all directions - up, down, left and right. And rather than just relying on you to hold the camera steady while you pan, the app gives you guidelines of where the next image should be places and next photo snapped.

Given that Google is Apple's default search and mapping engine, Microsoft's Bing is fighting an uphill battle on Apple's iOS platforms. Microsoft has launched an avalanche of iPhone apps that are "powered by Bing," but the company's main offering on the iPhone remains the Bing app that offers access to search engine's core features. Starting soon, the Bing for iPhone app (iTunes link) will also offer access to Bing Travel for finding travel deals and a redesigned version of Bing Maps.

Microsoft announced today that Bing Maps - its counter offering to Google Maps - will be getting transit directions for those of you riding the rails or taking the bus.

The addition of transit directions is just an initial release and will contain transit information for 11 U.S. cities, with "more to come" in the near future.

The map created by Open Street Map, a project building a free, open-source, editable map of the world, is now available as a layer in Bing Maps.

Users who download the OpenStreetMap app (and Microsoft Silverlight) can switch between the traditional layers, which include bird's eye, aerial and standard street map views, and Mapnik, a colorful map that includes businesses and landmarks labeled by users and devices through Open Street Map.

Fans of geographic information systems (GIS) can now get their mapping fix on the go, as the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) has launched an impressive mapping application for iOS devices. The California-based company specializes in providing GIS and geodatabase software applications, and holds a significant share of these markets. With the free ArcGIS app, users can now access and explore an enormous database of maps, including street maps, topographic maps, ecological maps and more.

Microsoft just announced that it is taking the Bing Maps Sliverlight version out of beta and making it the default version for Bing Maps. The Bing Team is rolling this change out slowly. Within a few weeks, all users in the U.S. will see the Silverlight maps by default. The AJAX site will continue to work for the time being and users will be able to switch back and forth between the two version. The Silverlight version is a major step forward for Bing Maps and, in many respects, puts it ahead of Google Maps in terms of features and usability.

Microsoft just released a major update to Bing Maps. Bing Maps now offers draggable routes that are computed dynamically, a zoom bar, embeddable maps, smarter command parsing and a redesigned interface. The new version of Bing Maps also loads faster. Microsoft now hosts the service in 7 data centers around the world and the Bing team has brought the size of the default Bing Maps home page down from 678kb to 484kb. Just like Google Maps, Bing Maps now also understands more complex queries like "Bellevue, WA to Space Needle."

Google just announced a major update to Google Maps in the United States. The new version not only includes better maps based on data from government organizations like the Forest Service and the US Geological Survey, but it also allows users to easily report problems with a map. In addition, Google Maps now features better maps for parks and water bodies, as well as college campuses. Trails and paths now also appear on the maps and thanks to this, Google plans to add biking directions to its routing feature in the near future.

Soon, you may start seeing company logos dotting the landscape on Google Maps. While Google has experimented with different types of ads in Google Maps on and off over the years, it now looks like Google is going to make another push to monetize Google Maps. While the details about this project are still quite hazy, it seems like Google plans to launch this program in at least the US and Australia in the next few weeks.