It looks like my favorite team in Windows Live scored another hit with their recent release. You can see it for yourself by going to http://maps.live.com. The product team has a huge list of the new changes in their post Live Search Maps v2 is out! Gemini Launches which list a number of significant features including

• generic directions to a specific location (e.g. if coming from I-5 North vs. if coming from I-5 South) without a specific starting point. I believe this is formally called 1–click directions.
• the ability to have the directions route around bad traffic
• the ability to import GeoRSS, GPX and KML files as collections
• increased metadata about businesses from partner companies like InfoUSA, CitySearch, and Gayot.

Surprisingly, my favorite features of the new release don’t seem to have been mentioned. The removal of dual search boxes along with some of the other user interface niceties such as suggesting “Work” or “Home” when a user attempts to save a location are just great.

There was also a bug in the driving directions to my house from Redmond which was also fixed in this release. I never even got around to mentioning it to the team. Now that’s what I call service.  

Now playing: Lil Wayne - Go DJ (Remix) (feat. Slim Thug & Mannie Fresh)