It is well known now that Nokia is making a big push with the Windows Phone platform following an agreement between the two companies, and today rumours have emerged that the upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform may say goodbye to Bing Maps in favour of Nokia Maps.

The two companies have long made it clear that their agreement goes beyond the operating system that is bundled with a smartphone, and according to a report on Cnet the release of Windows Phone 8 may make this even more apparent. Sources are claiming that Microsoft is going to replace Bing Maps with Nokia Maps on Windows Phone 8.

Using the Nokia system the platform will provide 3D navigation and hardware acceleration, and will be available on all Windows Phone devices and not just those from Nokia. There have been rumours previously that Nokia branding will be coming to all Windows Phone devices via the platforms map feature.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said back in January that users would begin to see “the word Nokia on a map that you get from Microsoft properties over a period of time”, and last month Microsoft revealed that Bing Maps users now get traffic information available from Nokia’s Where platform.

It is part of what Nokia is saying is the ongoing work by the two companies to get Nokia services into existing Microsoft products. This news comes after Apple announced yesterday that it was ditching Google Maps in favour of its own Maps application, which also features turn-by-turn navigation and 3D integration, and Google themselves recently announced updates to its own mapping system.

These companies have a way to go yet to catch up with Nokia, as the company powers Yahoo’s mapping services, and are claiming to have a presence in eighty percent of in-dash navigation systems and after market devices. Do you use Nokia Maps?