The LiveSide Blog reported that Chris Pendleton,Virtual Earth Evangelist, posted the news that Ask.com has now dropped their own mapping product for Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

Virtual Earth can now be found on Ask Maps, Ask City, and within Ask’s search results as Smart Answers. It is a shame to see Ask.com dissolve the mapping service, but it really comes as no surprise to me as they continue to cut costs and outsource innovation to other companies.

Microsoft does have an excellent mapping product, which is used by YellowPages.com, Superpages.com, and WhitePages.com, amongst others.

Is this a global change to all Ask.com properties? I tried finding Ask.com’s Maps in the UK and I received a message that reads:

Dear Ask Maps user,

We are sorry, but our maps service is no longer available. Please re-enter your query in the search box above to use our main web search service.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any comments or questions about our service please contact us.

The Ask Team

Like The Story? Vote For It On Yahoo Buzz! Subscribe To Our Daily Search News Recap! Your Email: Send me the monthly search newsletter too! (Learn more about our newsletters and feeds)

Subscribe To Our Search Feed!

Share & Bookmark This Story!

By Barry Schwartz Permalink
See Related Stories In Ask: Maps, Microsoft: Live Search Local