Published by Steve Litchfield at 15:21 UTC, May 18th 2016

Two months ago to the day, Microsoft released the next generation of Windows Maps to Insiders on mobile , with a revamped interface and new functionality. After eight weeks of testing this is now considered stable enough to be made more widely available and Maps v5.x has appeared in the Store worldwide for everyone on Windows 10 Mobile, whether running production software (currently 105865.318 ) or any of the Insiders rings. Well, in theory. In practice, devices which got to .318 via official upgrade means (as opposed to using the Insiders Release Preview mechanism) don't seem to see it yet - but they will, give it a week, it's the exact same OS version after all!

All of which is very good news, since the interface is a big leap forwards in terms of real world usablity and, as many have noted, is closely influenced by HERE Drive, which this replaces (the HERE suite is being phased out).

Here's the new Windows 10 Maps in action, in both portrait and landscape modes:

This new v5 update is currently available in the Store. Here it is starting up on my 'production W10M' Lumia 1520:





Great to see and one of the main reasons why I've been recommending that most people update to Windows 10 Mobile. Comments welcome - is this as big a deal as I think it is?