Why little or no postcode search facilty in Windows MAPS when offline.

Question

I've got the offline Maps data downloaded but Windows MAPS can't find any UK postcodes that I search for unless I'm online. If my memory serves me that never used to be a problem when out in the car and offline. Has the map dataset been reduced in content? It's now useless  to use it as a SATNAV.

Answer 1

Hi I99999,

From this answer, https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1b755725-b0ba-4c01-a7fb-b5d415e41ad4/zip-territory-mapping-in-bing-maps?forum=bingmaps it sounds like what you want may be possible with a bit of coding.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl 

Answer 2

Offline search is more limited in capability than online search due to space constraints on the device. I would take many terrabytes of data to store the full offline search data and indices for the UK.

Offline search results will generally produce better results if you include a fully qualified string to give it more context. In other words, searching for "Deburgh Street, Swindon, UK" is more likely to produce results when offline than just searching for "Deburgh Street" with no context. Having the map view in the general area of what you're searching for will also help.

Answer 3

Thanks, but that's no problem for a typical dedicated SATNAV. My old SATNAV, 12 years old, used to able to find all the POSTCODES and most addresses I searched for in the UK. 
Looks like I'll be using it again or buying a new one.

Answer 4

Hi I99999,

This forum is for Bing Maps questions so I must ask, does your old SATNAV device use Bing Maps?  Maybe work with the Manufacturer to understand more about how they leverage offline data for your scenario?  My suspicion is still that you will have to do some custom work to get the behavior you seek.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Answer 5

No the SATNAV didn't use BING Maps as BING Maps never existed 12 years ago and the memory constraints were pretty tight as well due to the higher price of ROM.

BING maps has the same underlying offline dataset as that used for Windows MAPS doesn't it? My question relates to the dataset which I suspect has been changed in a recent update making either APP unable to find postcodes when it once could.

Answer 6

Hi I99999,

I *think* you want to actually talk to the data supplier then.  For example, I worked on the Ford Sync device that came preloaded with offline maps and changes were provided via SD or USB key.  Bing Maps is a consumer of Map data but that underlying data is from other companies.  For Ford it was NAVTECH and I think Bing uses them as well.  I found this posting for another issue but it might help you too... https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/forum/bing_maps-bing_dir/for-those-who-need-bing-maps-error-correction/4f6435c1-344e-4c36-9c0b-18f6c5a8ed5d

Reaching out directly to the Data supplier is really the only way to know for sure that the data can contain what you want exactly.  Bing will only pull what it needs for its usage but you should be able to get the same stuff your SATNAV had if you go to the guys that pull, and frankly own, that data directly.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl 

Answer 7

LotGirl, thankyou for that reply, I'll think about what you said but I'm just a user and will take the easiest way out and give up using BING maps. In the UK we get around by using postcodes as it's a quick and easy way to find a place especially driving. We visit National Trust locations of historic interest quite a lot and their website gives postcodes as one way to find the entrance!

Answer 8

Hi I999999,

It looks like https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/days-out offers "Town, County, Post Code or Place" so it seems you could attempt to pivot your search on one of the other three options and maybe the off-line data offers that detail.

This Forum is MSDN, Microsoft Developer Network, so the answers here will be more for Developers than users.  Microsoft does offer forums at Answers.Microsoft.com for more user oriented questions.  In fact, the link I provided above is from there and you should be able to search for Bing Maps answers like this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/search/search?SearchTerm=Bing+Maps

While you are not a developer, you might find the interactive Bing Maps SDK interesting none the less.  https://www.bing.com/api/maps/sdkrelease/mapcontrol/isdk. Microsoft offers a free version of Visual Studio as well https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/community/ so you could try being a Developer if you felt the urge. 

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

PS: The Bing Maps blog has some recent info about UK Maps as well https://blogs.bing.com/maps and I am a girl that works on the "Internet of Things" or IoT so not "Lot" but "IoT"