City Art Search nabs an update on Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone

City Art Search, the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone app that turns your device into a virtual museum, has nabbed an update on both platforms today. There are quite a few changes here, but the most notable are the additions Live Tile support on Windows Phone and Bing Maps support in certain regions on Windows 8.1.

Here's what's new in each version:

Windows Phone

  • Added Live Tile Support – Pin the app to your start screen and it will cycle through your nine most recent favorite images. If you have no favorites, it will cycle though a pre-selected set of nine famous paintings. The Live Tile can be turned off from the settings page
  • Added basic results sorting options in the settings page – within each gallery you can now sort artworks by Title, Artist, or Year
  • Added press-hold-activated re-querying context menus for both gallery strips and art strips in the results panel.
  • Tweaked the UX
  • Some minor bug fixes, data refinement, and the addition of more artwork to the database

Windows 8.1

  • Users were complaining about Bing Maps not being supported for certain countries/regions e.g. South Korea, China, India. We've modified the code so that Bing Maps in these unsupported countries/regions will default to the US regional format, so the map should be functional now for those users.
  • Added a close button to the top-right-hand-corner of the expanded art viewer.
  • Modified the interaction behavior with the expanded art image – clicking/tapping on the image once, zooms in at that point.
  • Added Tooltips to the 'Wiki Art', 'Wiki Artist', and 'Gallery Link' buttons.
  • Fine-tuned the search suggestions in the Search Charm.
  • Some minor bug fixes, data refinement, and the addition of more artwork to the database.

Be sure to hit up the store links below to update your apps or check them out for the first time.

Thanks to Rokibul H. for the tip!

QR: City Art Searh

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl