Traffic data comes to UK and Italy in continued Bing Maps update

By Daniel Rubino
published

It was a few weeks ago when Nokia and Microsoft announced that Bing Maps would be getting a bit of a backend overhaul. Specifically in two areas: new color codes for traffic and more detail on back roads.

Perhaps even more importantly, some countries which previously didn't have access to mapping data would be getting the feature in a timed rollout. All in all, 24 countries were being added to the list including Italy and the UK.

We can at least verify that those latter two now have traffic as an option on their devices. Users can simply launch Maps and tap the three-dots on the lower menu. There, the "enable traffic" option should now be available.

It's great to see such a feature comes to other regions as it's something many of us have taken for granted since Windows Phone 7 came out in 2010. If you've noticed traffic added to any of these other countries, sound off in comments: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or UAE.

via: Plaffo; Thanks Andrew, James, for UK info

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

40 Comments
  • Not showing on my debranded Omnia 7
  • I have it in Germany too! :)
  • really? It  does not work for me
  • Yeah it does, in Munich anyways. I can enable it in the menu in maps and it works nicely!
  • Still not available in Germany :(
  • It's up on my UK Lumia 900. Very odd to see Microsoft putting so much effort in Bing Maps only for them to be ditched in favour or Nokia Maps.
  • I thought Bing maps and Nokia maps were merging??
  • What I understood from the summit is that Bing Maps are out and replaced by Nokia Maps and Drive. Can someone else confirm this?
  • They're not out, they're just bringing in all the Nokia local data that Bing doesn't have, like this traffic stuff for the UK and mainland Europe etc.     All the imaging and data Bing maps already had in the US and so on is still being used, just think of it as a Bing Maps update using Nokia data instead of their own.
  • Verified... Its available in India too
  • Im happy to be able to use Nokia Maps on my Lumia800 instead of Bing Maps here in Austria. Not only that there is no traffic data, but the search is horribly disfunctional. I can enter a street name which is not to be found in search, while i can find it on the map just perfectly. Nokia Maps finds every street at least.
  • I have in India in my lumia800
  • Not showing on omnia 7. In the UK?? =/
  • I have it in France on my Lumia 710.
  • upgrade for Latin America!!
  • Not on my Lumia800 in Spain
  • "Show Traffic" has been available in Spain for some months now, but traffic data is still limited to major roads.
  • Yes, I see it's there, but I don't see any traffic info... I will check again tomorrow though
  • Nothing on my debranded HD7 here in UK....
  • Check maps on app list, not bing
  • Or type in address on Bing then click on top map result then choose traffic
  • I got my Lumia 900 in May and could've sworn I received traffic data for London!! Definitely receive them now.
  • I have it in Finland.
  • UAE Confirmed
  • Working in Ireland now! :D
  • Traffic data showed up on bing Bing maps in Sweden some weeks ago, both on the phone and on the web site.
  • It's on my omnia7 with three uk
  • Traffic data showing in Norway, no idea how it looked yesterday... Had given up Bing maps.
  • honestly that sounds good to me.
  • Seen it for Indonesia a couple of days ago.
  • What the hell am I supposed to do with traffic data when I can't even get directions from point A to point B!
  • Yes you can, just click on Bing, bottom right of your phone, type In address and choose get directions, it will list route and count em down as you approach them.
  • No.. We can't. I think Microsoft has not provided Bing navigation support to India.
  • It works!
  • Traffic has been enabled in Australia, but it doesn't show any traffic :/
  • Works and is accurate, my drive to work is often congested and it shows yellow the orange in the usual places. Super feature.
    Thanks microsoft
  • Works fine in Germany, at least with a debranded omnia w around Stuttgart
  • São Paulo, Brazil! ;)
  • Working in India.
  • I noticed it a couple of weeks ago here in Belgium. Still waiting on voice navigation though, even with all my regional settings set to US English. And some POI's for local scout wouldn't go amiss either.