When I switched over from iOS to WP8, one of the things that I and many others found lacking in the native Nokia Maps was local traffic (I'm not sure if this was a problem overseas or not.) I always liked using Google Maps but as we all know, Microsoft and Google aren't getting along so no Google apps are available. There is of course third-party apps such as Inrix Traffic which I used in place of Google Maps; and as far as I know Google uses Inrix data for their traffic info anyway so it's the next best thing. But I personally like the Nokia Maps interface and OS integration.
After playing around with the phone a bit the other day, I stumbled across a way to see the local traffic using the integrated map. I was definitely not aware of this feature.
The screen shot to the right shows the same area but now shows the local traffic information. You can probably tell from the different icons on the bottom, but this map is from the Bing search button. If you hit the integrated Bing search button then hit the far left icon (Scout) it'll provide you a list of nearby points of interest. Above this list is a partial view of the map area. If you tap on this map it'll open up fully and you can now zoom and navigate the Nokia maps with local traffic information available. You'll have flag marks for the nearby points of interest but they can easily be cleared by tapping the "..." button and hitting "clear map".
It's interesting that this local traffic information is only visible when the map is accessed via Bing, but I guess that since the "Scout" button is tailored to local information it shows local traffic information as well. If you like using the integrated map and want local traffic, it looks like this is a good way to get that information without having to download a dedicated app just for traffic.
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