Bing's New Airport Maps

Bing (remember them?) have added a new function to their search tools that may just convince you to give them another look. If you've ever been lost in the mazes that pass for airports these days then this may be a Google-killer for you. Unfortunately, the feature is currently limited to US airports, but could soon include the UK - maybe one day it could even help you to find those elusive seats in Luton airport.

Once you've set your localisation to the US (in the top right corner), a search of the top American airports will bring up a result with an "Airport Map" option.

Zooming into the map shows a detailed floor plan of the airport with shops, toilets, escalators and, most importantly, checkout counters clearly marked.

Google has a similar, but far less detailed offering. The only advantage to Google maps is that its traffic flow feature includes airport roads (the red lines in the image are high traffic roads).

Hopefully Google and Bing can spur each other on and make ever more useful features for travellers.

For more information on the feature see bing.com