In yet another attempt to enhance its Bing search engine, Microsoft Wednesday launched its Bing Maps Beta – a Google Maps-akin application that gives a detailed street-level view of particular locations.

Packed with some inventive tweaks and multiple application overlays, the Bing Maps Beta - which works only after Microsoft Silverlight 3 has been installed by the users - tries to gain a leading edge over Google Maps.

The new Microsoft application relies largely on the company’s Photosynth technology, which helps it integrate several photos into a 3-D montage that gives users the feel of practically walking into the images.

The Bing's Streetside feature gives the users a virtual walkthrough in the street, complete with a 360 degree landscape of the adjoining structures and landmarks. Further, a unique "light speed" feature enables the users to zoom in and out on specific locations.

Furthermore, the Enhanced Bird’s Eye feature of Bing Streetside provides the users an aerial view of the selected location. 

In order to help the user streamline searches and bookmark favorite applications, a new Applications Gallery catalogue has been built within Bing Maps. This catalogue includes a series of map overlays for the users, thereby allowing them to carry out multiple searches.

Using the Application Gallery, the users can instantly add different content layers to the map, including tweets, local blogs, business listings and Photosynth, at their own discretion.