MapPoint Snuffed By Windows Live Local

MSN Maps and Directions has been scheduled for the 'Old Yeller' treatment from Microsoft, as they compel users to use the Local Live service.

MapPoint Technology Specialist Chris Pendleton posted on the MapPoint B2B blog about the forthcoming demise of the old service.

Pendleton announced the planned obsolescence of MSN Maps and Directions:


The time has come to say good-bye to MSN Maps and Directions and say hello to Windows Live Local. The product team has decided that in order for everyone to appreciate Windows Live Local, users need to stop using MSN Maps and Directions and be force fed WLL in order to love it.. And they will!

A date hasn't been set for the termination of MapPoint, according to Pendleton. Sites that have links to the current version of MSN Maps will be forwarded to the new Windows Live Local, but Pendleton urges those site publishers to proactively get those links changed.

Information on changing those links can be found online at http://local.live.com/Help/URLAPI.html. That page describes how to build a Windows Live Local URL; instructions on including parameters for maps, search, driving directions, and Scratch Pads can be found there.

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