Bing Maps says Israel, Japan and South Korea don't exist

Where has Tokyo gone on Bing Maps? (R)

Move over Apple Maps, Bing Maps on Windows Phone 8 has lost three countries out of the 110 it covers. This happened despite the use of data from Nokia's Navteq that has been integrated into the Windows Phone 8 application. According to Bing Maps, there is no Israel, Japan or South Korea. That is despite good maps for Israel and Japan being available on the desktop version of Bing Maps. And Japan was looking pretty good on the previous version of Bing Maps for Windows Phone.

Is losing three countries worse than misnaming towns and benchmarks like Apple did, or are both things just as bad? Apple's mapping app was so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook not only apologized, but also recommended using rival's mapping apps. What caused the mapping data from all three countries not to be supported on Bing Maps? While we don't have the answer for that, we would bet that developers are hard at work right now to allow the maps of all three countries to work on the Windows Phone 8 version of Bing Maps.

We do have one question. If a tree falls in a country that is not supported on Bing Maps, does it make a sound?

source: WMPoweruser

73 Comments

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posted on 25 Nov 2012, 00:30 17

1. Izzy_V (Posts: 216; Member since: 07 Jul 2012)

That last part was so terrible it made Jesus facepalm, and I don't believe in Jesus.

Google Maps all day for me. People can enjoy having heavily flawed maps with MS and apple. :)

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 12:00 3

62. Nadr1212 (Posts: 741; Member since: 22 Sep 2012)

Looks like its time for a Scooby-Doo mystery!

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 00:40 22

2. thin-bezel (Posts: 1; Member since: 25 Nov 2012)

Go home Maps.You're drunk! :D

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 00:43 17

4. ap1989 (Posts: 145; Member since: 12 Oct 2011)

Google > Bing

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 01:02 9

6. wendygarett (unregistered)

Waiting Steve Ballmer to apologize lol :)

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 08:40 3

48. SleepingOz (unregistered)

Ballmer is like Jobs. You'll have to wait for a long long time.

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 01:42 6

11. dan86 (Posts: 298; Member since: 17 Mar 2012)

Band of brothers Apple & Microsoft!
Google maps rocks!!!

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 02:14 9

12. shadez10 (Posts: 427; Member since: 15 Jan 2012)

Dora's map is much more reliable... xD

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 06:18 2

38. MC1123 (Posts: 1256; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)

im the map in the map im the MAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP!!!!

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 21:01

84. shadez10 (Posts: 427; Member since: 15 Jan 2012)

LOL!..

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 03:09 6

16. ogy_dogy (Posts: 453; Member since: 29 Jun 2012)

Well this really doesnt affect nokia users now does it, but someone here at pa forgot to mention that. You see nokias get nokia maps and nokia drive + which imho are the best nav maps arround...

Oh yeah, soo long israel, finally :D

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 03:46

17. Tsepz_GP (Posts: 1004; Member since: 12 Apr 2012)

Oh dear, thank goodness for Google Maps. :)
Going to enjoy reading the excuses from the apologists.

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 04:28

19. redmd (Posts: 1335; Member since: 26 Oct 2011)

I don't get this Israel hate on the comments.

Bing maps should be replaced by Nokia maps.

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 06:18

37. gazmatic (Posts: 795; Member since: 06 Sep 2012)

Why is south korea and japan missing? A snub to samsung and sony competitors? Na. They'll be back

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 08:33 1

45. tedkord (Posts: 13452; Member since: 17 Jun 2009)

Those places don't actually exist. Like the rest of the world and everyone in it, they're just figments of my imagination.

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 08:37

47. networkdood (Posts: 6330; Member since: 31 Mar 2010)

If you get your source of information from mainstream media, then you will always be misinformed. CNN is one the worst at misinforming the world because it has been shown that they actually air different stories in different countries and some of those countries pay CNN for specific news to be aired.

posted on 25 Nov 2012, 08:48 1

53. T12RYK (Posts: 108; Member since: 10 Jun 2011)

This just seems like a bug if the maps were there before. Apple maps had missing and bad map data to begin with. But I can't wait for Google maps to come to my iPhone.