Thursday 14 April 2016

Top 10 Maps App Features

Top 10 Maps App Features

If you are a Windows 10 user, you have a powerful Maps app on the Start menu. Roland Waddilove lists his favourite features

1 Print Maps


It doesn’t look like there is an option to print, but there is. In the bottom right corner of the app, are three dots. Clicking them displays a menu, which includes Print. Click it and a window opens with print options; the printer to use is at the top and the default is selected, so it should be fine for most occasions. There is an option to send the map to OneNote, though, which is useful if you are compiling notes for a project. There is also an option to output the map as a PDF file, which can then be saved to disk, emailed, posted online, shared with friends and so on.


Set either landscape or portrait paper orientation, and select colour or monochrome mode. The More settings link enables you to set the paper size and the print quality. There are five quality settings, three for plain paper, one for speciality paper and one for photo paper. Save ink and time by selecting the Plain Paper, Fast Draft Quality setting.

2 Search Bing


Want to find the best places to eat out or to get a take-away? You could open a browser, go to Bing or Google and search – or use the Maps app. Enter whatever you want into the search box, such as ‘pizza’, and a panel opens on the left with search results from Bing.

Each result is numbered and there is a corresponding number on the map so you can see the location. The Bing results show a star rating, telephone number, address, price guide indicated by pound signs, and a link to get directions from your current location.

If you enter a location or tourist attraction the search panel shows information about it. You will also see links to nearby places to shop, stay, eat, drink and park your car.

3 Switch Map Styles


Aerial photography and traditional road map views are available and you switch between them using the toolbar on the right. Click the stack of layers and then click Aerial or Road as you prefer.

4 View In 3D


In any map view, there are two ways to switch to a 3D view. Click the grid icon in the toolbar on the right to switch from overhead to about 45°. Alternatively, click and hold the icon, when icons appear on the left and right, drag the toolbar icon left or right to customise the viewing angle.

5 Use Keyboard And Mouse


There are a number of useful keyboard and mouse combinations for moving around maps. Spinning the mouse wheel zooms in and out, but there is a bit more to it than that. It zooms in and out under the mouse. Position the mouse on a point of interest on the map spin the wheel to zoom into that point.

Hold down Ctrl and click and drag up or down the map to tilt it from overhead to 3D perspective view. Press Ctrl and swipe left or right with the mouse to spin the 3D view around 360°. Hold down Shift in 3D view and spin the mouse to change your vertical height from the ground.

Got a laptop? Swipe up and down on the touchpad to zoom in/out. Two-finger pinch and spread on the touchpad or a touch-screen zooms in/out too, just like on your phone. Press two fingers on a touch screen and rotate them to rotate the map.

6 View Traffic Problems


Before a journey, you can check Maps for traffic problems. Go to the toolbar on the right and click Layers. Turn on Traffic, Incidents and Cameras. Green roads indicate light traffic and red roads have heavy and slow traffic. Incidents are roadworks, road closures, and accidents, and they are the orange icons on the map. Click them for more information. Click the video camera icons on the map (mostly in city centres) and you can see a live CCTV image of the road.

7 Get Directions


You can get driving directions, of course, but also walking instructions, or public transport details such as buses and trains. Click the directions icon on the left (it’s a road sign), and a panel opens with A and B boxes. Your current location is automatically entered into A and you just type a place into B. Select the Driving, Public Transport or Walking icon at the top to see the route.

When entering the start and end points for the trip, click the Options link and, when driving, you can choose to avoid certain things like toll roads and tunnels, and ferries where possible. When public transport is selected you can choose the departure time and the route with the fewest changes.

8 View 3D Cities


This is a brilliant feature of Maps that enables you to tour places of interest in 3D. Click the last of the icons on the left near the top and a panel of photos appears. There are dozens of places and to start the 3D tour, just click one. Click the All link at the top to choose a geographic region, such as France, Italy, UK, US and so on. It can take a few seconds for the image to sharpen, but once it is loaded you can then use the keyboard and mouse actions to fly around the location and view it from every angle, from high up to down on the ground.

9 Save Offline Maps


If you travel with a laptop, you might find that you do not always have an internet connection. That’s no problem. You can use Maps offline if you download the maps. Click the gear icon in the bottom left corner to open the settings panel, then click Download or update maps. This opens Windows Settings and there is a plus button to download maps. Click it and select a region, such as Europe, North and Central America and so on.

10 Go Streetside


Search for a place in Maps and you might see a photo in the search panel with a Streetside caption. Click it and it places you on the street with a 360° photographic view all around you. Use the mouse to click and drag left, right, up and down to change the view, and click in the distance to move down the street. It is very useful for checking out places before you go there so you don’t get lost.