Microsoft has launched some new Bing Maps integration with Hotmail. When Hotmail users create a new email message, they can insert Bing Maps data.

When a user selects "Maps and Places", a task pane opens, which lets you add new locations or interact with previously defined locations. It will default to the address you have in your Windows live profile. If you add a new place, you can store it in a Bing Maps collection and pick it from a list later.

"Once you made a quick pick from the list or geocoded a new address you can optionally edit the details and then insert it into your email," says Bing’s Johannes Kebeck. "I think that’s a great idea. If only I could have that in Outlook too."

In other Bing Maps news, Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch has just been released as public beta, and the company shows how it uses this with Bing Maps here. Microsoft says Visual Studio LightSwitch is "the simplest way to build business applications for the desktop, web and cloud."