Microsoft early Wednesday rolled out an update to its Windows Live Local mapping service that brings real-time traffic flow and incident reporting, along with the ability for users to create a list of their favorite landmarks and locations that can be shared with others.

When users look up directions using Live Local, the system will now take into account traffic issues as reported by Traffic.com, routing around any potential problems. The feature will only be available in the United States, but Microsoft on Wednesday added general mapping capabilities for Canada and the UK.

Collections are also new in the Live Local update. Users can attach photos and notes to locations on a map, for example when tracking progress during a trip. These collections can be saved, linked and even e-mail or posted directly to an MSN Spaces blog.

Microsoft has additionally released an add-in for Outlook that integrates mapping capabilities into the application's calendar feature. The idea is to enable users to better manage their travel schedule and easily share meeting location information within Outlook Calendar requests.

Windows Live Messenger now features Live Local integration as well. Users can interact with the same map by opening a sharing session from the Actions menu.

"This release is important, as it represents the first time that people can easily capture their rich local knowledge and share it with all Windows Live Local users and the Internet as a whole,” said Stephen Lawler, general manager of Microsoft's Virtual Earth unit.

"Our geographic expansion and integration with popular communication tools like Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Messenger also enable us to bring the power of Windows Live Local to many more people than we do today."