Google My Maps equivalent for Microsoft?

Question

Hi, does anyone know if there is an equivalent plugin for Google My Maps which I can install for Office 365? My work has just changed over from gmail to Office 365. I used to use Google My Maps a lot, you could build map using a set of addresses and have different layers for different sets of addresses. It was like having an address database and being able to view it on a map, instead of just on a spreadsheet.

The IT dept have advised me to install Bing Maps, but that only seems to allow you to add maps and locations to meetings in outlook. Google My Maps was a whole separate programme, does anyone if there is anything similar available for Microsoft?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Laura

Answer 1

There are a lot of different ways to use Bing Maps inside of Office 365. In Office 365 there is two map visuals out of the box which lets you view all te data on a map. The first is through Power View:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Maps-in-Power-View-8A9B2AF3-A055-4131-A327-85CC835271F7

https://www.dynamics101.com/sharepoint-online-demo/

The second is if your data is in a list and you have a geolocation field, there is a Map View option: 

https://dev.office.com/sharepoint/docs/general-development/create-a-map-view-for-the-geolocation-field-in-sharepoint

http://www.rsmusconsultingpros.com/adding-bing-maps-in-office-365/

One of the most powerful options is to use Power BI inside of Office 365. Power BI exposes Bing Maps in several different ways: 

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-service-tips-and-tricks-for-power-bi-map-visualizations/

There are also several different add-ins for Office 365 which use Bing Maps: 

https://store.office.com/search.aspx?qu=maps

Finally, you can create a completely custom solution using the Bing Maps API's and adding it in as a web part. This would give you access to the full Bing Maps functionality and provide the most power in terms of potential however would require the most development depending on what it is you want to do. 

---

[Blog] [twitter] [LinkedIn]

Answer 2

You can also just use the "My Places" feature of bing maps. This can save searched addresses and places and group them into collections for later viewing.

The same collections are available in the Windows Maps program if you're running Windows 10.