Do you have a Bing Maps article idea / request?

Question

Is there a Bing Maps dev topic that you'd like to read more about? Or something you'd like to learn how to do?

Did you search Google, Bing, whatever for how to do something with Bing Maps, only to not be able to find a solution?

I was thinking about what to blog about next in regards to Bing Maps, and I thought I'd ask the community for requests. If anyone has an idea / request for what they'd like to learn more about, please post it to this thread.

I know there are things you guys would like to get code examples on how to do, so please let me know what they are.

Thanks!

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Microsoft MVP - Bing Maps
Blog: http://pietschsoft.com | Web.Maps.VE - ASP.NET AJAX Bing Maps Server Control

Answer 1

Caching.

1. Offline.  Is a solution forthcoming?
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vemapcontroldev/thread/a8064b11-2d65-495d-9dc3-9f2126618e38/

2. Online.  What are best practices for setting the "Cache-Control" header on custom tiles?  Publishing tiles with Azure/CDN?  I still don't understand whether "Cache-Control" headers are necessary to decrease my bandwidth costs for layers which seldom if ever change.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vemapcontroldev/thread/8a5acea3-5902-490b-b179-c026536d3b2a
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowsazuredata/thread/2f2dd4c6-383c-4768-b52e-e2398e778de8
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-MY/windowsazuredevelopment/thread/f9a8cec6-d10a-450c-9d7e-53a394ee3d43

Answer 2

If you need Bing Maps offline their is already a solution available: http://www.vexcel.com/geospatial/bingmapsserver/index.asp

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http://rbrundritt.wordpress.com

Answer 3

Here is about half of blog topics I have on my TODO list that haven't had time to get to.

- Reverse geocode over area using v7 and REST. Find Closest.
- Map image filter: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/canvas/imagefilters/
- mobile locator template using HTML5
- Lync & Bing Maps
- Polygons in BSDS
- Search by polygon using AJAX/query search tools

- USGS elevation data module
- Measuring tools
- Drawing tools

I also have a list of ideas for Modules to be built listed here: http://bingmapsv7modules.codeplex.com/discussions/269691

If anyone is interested in writing a post on one of the above topics, feel free to reach out to me if you want to bounce off some ideas on me.

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http://rbrundritt.wordpress.com

Answer 4

My list of tentative blog posts that I won't have time to write for ages:

• Doing clever stuff with HTML5 to render massive amounts of vector features (see, for example, http://www.giscloud.com/app)

• Comparison of tile-rendering engines for SQL Server spatial data (MapServer -vs- GeoServer -vs- MapNik, for example) - compare pre-rendered versus dynamic raster rendering.

• Comparison of storage options for large tilesets (Separate images on file/webserver -vs- Azure Blob Storage -vs- Azure Table Storage -vs- SQL Azure -vs- SQL Server) - which is best/cheapest/fastest/most manageable?

• More ways to combine Bing Maps and SQL Server - exposing geocoding and routefinding to queries within the DB engine.

• Comparison of ways to create desktop-based Map applications (Silverlight OOB -vs- WPF -vs- Windows Forms embedded AJAX v7)

• Various integrations between Bing Maps and OSM or other free data (like OS). For example, I don't like the "Lavender" labels you get when you choose aerial map style with labels, so I created an alternative "labels-only" tile layer from OSM data that I place on top of the bare aerial map instead, and was going to describe how to do this.

I've got absolutely no spare time at the moment so, even though many of these are half-written, I can't really see myself getting time to finish them off any time soon - you're welcome to use them instead :)

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twitter: @alastaira blog: http://alastaira.wordpress.com/

Answer 5

Here's our list, many of the items were already mentioned in other posts.

1. HTML5 Canvas support for vector data (current performance is unacceptable for large data sets)

2. Drawing/Editing module for vector data

3. Better support for vector data in BirdsEye mode (elevation + accuracy)

4. Map image filters

5. Standard support for Polygon with Rings

6. Better integration with SQL Azure/ SQL Server (Vector/Tile Rendering,  Syncing and Caching)

7. Windows 8 Metro style samples

 

Thanks!

Answer 6

Definitely more examples on how best to use Bing Maps on Windows 8.

Answer 7

William, I would like to post more on using Bing Maps with Windows 8 "Metro" Apps. However, the lack of a native Bing Maps control for the platform is to detrimental to the platform for me to dedicate time writing articles using the "hacky" method of using the Ajax control instead. I've thought about writing my own control, but would rather wait until a Beta or RC to be released to see what MS plans for Bing Maps on the platform.

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Microsoft MVP - Bing Maps
Blog: http://pietschsoft.com | Web.Maps.VE - ASP.NET AJAX Bing Maps Server Control