Azure Maps and lack of features

I used to work on the maps team at Microsoft, here is my perspective. Birdseye and Streetside imagery is incredibly expensive to capture (even the storage cost in the cloud for the imagery is incredibly expensive). Most of the imagery Bing Maps has of these types are very old, a lot of it is 10+ years old and not a good representation of the current reality. From a business perspective, nearly all the usage of this feature came from the Bing Maps consumer site (bing.com/maps), there has hardly been any usage of these features in the enterprise Bing Maps platform for years. I talked to many companies in the past who were admit on the importance of these features as part of their app, but when checking the data, they were usually hardly being used. I suspect that the cost of simply hosting this data far exceeds the revenue it generates, let alone the cost it would take to update the imagery. I'm not sure what the team has planned, but it would be pretty cool if they brought the 3D maps they have on bing.com/maps to the enterprise platform.

Azure Maps does not currently support the Streetside or Bird's Eye View features that were available in Bing Maps. The decision to exclude these features may be related to a strategic focus on enhancing other functionalities and services within Azure Maps, which include a broader range of mapping and geospatial services. Azure Maps aims to provide a comprehensive set of features such as geocoding, routing, and real-time traffic, while also ensuring compliance with various regulatory standards.

While the absence of Streetside and Bird's Eye View may be disappointing for some users, Azure Maps does offer other capabilities that might meet different needs. It's also worth noting that Azure Maps is designed to be a global service with a focus on security and compliance, which may influence the features that are included or excluded.

Feedback from users is valuable and can help shape future updates and enhancements to the platform.