Bing Maps Local Search API - More Locations are Returned as I Zoom Into an Area

Question

Hi,

I'm using the Bing Maps Local Search API (i.e., https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/bingmaps/rest-services/locations/local-search) with a defined userMapView and am wondering why, with the following query, I receive more location results as I zoom into an area?

https://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/LocalSearch/?query=Motorcycle%20Dealers&userMapView=46.263387,-125.651855,49.156510,-119.543457&maxResults=25&key=mySessionKey

Returns 7 locations

Zoom into the same area and more results are returned:

https://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/LocalSearch/?query=Motorcycle%20Dealers&userMapView=47.367145,-123.361206,48.090410,-121.834106&maxResults=25&key=mySessionKey

Returns 18 locations

I would have expected at least 18 locations returned by the first query, or 7 or fewer returned by the second query, as the bounding box in the second query is entirely contained with the bounding box defined in the first query.

Thanks,

Ken

Answer 1

Hi Ken,

I have reached out to the engineering team on this but I suspect context comes into play here with your first set of co-ordinates including both Canada and the US (With one co-ordinate in the ocean) and the second set being all in Washington state and no co-ordinate in the water.

Bing has a Location Knowledge Graph that builds a location understanding for the query and this context is sensitive to the contexts I mentioned already. This likely is the source of the change in data set for the two views.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Answer 2

This example is entirely within the state of Colorado:

https://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/LocalSearch/?query=Motorcycle%20Dealers&userMapView=37.412582,-108.656006,40.750256,-102.426758&maxResults=25&key=mySessionKey

Result: 3 Locations

This example zooms into Denver and gets many more locations:

https://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/LocalSearch/?query=Motorcycle%20Dealers&userMapView=39.318770,-105.831146,40.145691,-104.273834&maxResults=25&key=mySessionKey

Results: 22 Locations

This example zooms further into Denver and gets a couple more locations:

https://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/LocalSearch/?query=Motorcycle%20Dealers&userMapView=39.526430,-105.441818,39.939891,-104.663162&maxResults=25&key=mySessionKey

Results: 24 Locations

I was hoping that I could show a message to my users that they need to zoom in when the number of locations returned was equal to the maximum (i.e., maxResults=25).

How would I create an interface to communicate what "context" is required so that a user could know that they have actually plotted all local entities for an area meeting the query/search string criteria? Alternatively, is there a zoom level that would assure that all entities (or the max) are retrieved for an area?

Thanks,

Ken