Microsoft is giving search competitor Google a run for its money with the launch of its new Bing Maps Beta, a map application that features enhanced bird's eye and streetside viewing.

Microsoft has improved street-level images in Bing's Maps search engine, rendering the view with more continuity when users move up or down a road.

Microsoft is to closely cooperate with the OpenStreetMap project, whose founder it has hired.The initiative, announced on Tuesday, is starting with Microsoft's release of aerial Bing Maps imagery ...