Microsoft is set to introduce a rival street level mapping initiative called Streetside to compete with to Google's Streetview.
The service, which just like Google's Streetview provides real photographs at the street level from a fleet of roving vehicles, has already launched in 56 North American cities. Microsoft said that the firm's Steetside cars have already begun to photograph London.
It doesn't seem Google has too much to worry about just yet since Microsoft was already managing expectations by pointing out that just cities would be covered.
"We're not setting out to record every street. We believe it is most valuable in urban centres where people want to find services," Bing search boss Dave Coplin told the Beeb.
The company also appears keen to avoid some of the privacy issues Google ran into when it admitted it had captured more Wi-Fi data than intended.
"We took the decision to postpone wi-fi data collection. We'd like to do it the right way," said Coplin apparently content to led Google trail blaze any blunders first.
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