Via Virtual Earth

"It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." - Abraham Maslow

A dangerous trap for software developers to fall into! Software development projects come in lots of different flavors, so we provide different developer tools optimized for many environments.?If you're building a SQL stored proc that needs to geocode new/updated records, a JavaScript library simply isn't the right tool. If you're building a Java based Web Service on Solaris?to expose a reverse geocoding API, a COM object is a very square peg for your round hole.?Microsoft offers three mapping and location services API's that work well on their own, but also integrate and work well together to provide a very rich mapping platform for just about any environment. This article will help steer you in the right direction in choosing the right SDK for your job. Lets start with an overview of each of our developer tools for Mapping, then I'll list some common projects and the appropriate tool for the situation. [as always, our MSDN dev center is your one stop to find more details on all of our developer stuff]

Microsoft's Mapping tools for Developers

1. Virtual Earth Map ControlThe VE map control is a javascript library for Web developers. It supports street geocoding, place finding, routing and driving directions, interactive street and aerial maps, birds eye imagery, data layers (GeoRSS and Collections), vector drawing, local search for businesses and much more in a client side control for Javascript/DHTML/AJAX developers. It is easy to integrate server side data for overlay on the VE map. If you are building a web application that calls for map visualization, this is the place to start. As you'll see in a moment, the VE map control works seamlessly with the MapPoint Web service to integrate sophisticated server side functionality from a web server running any OS.

More info: Feature details,?Interactive SDK, VE Developer Center,?Developer Discussion Forum, MapCruncher for?custom raster layers

Great for: mashups, 3D web mapping, Web applications that?need to present interactive maps and imagery.????

2. MapPoint Web ServiceMWS is a hosted Web Service API appropriate for any development environment with support for SOAP and WSDL. Visual Basic .NET, C#, Java, major Relational Databases, and most Web Application Servers all support SOAP. The API supports dynamic map rendering, driving directions in 9 languages, custom data sources, Find Nearby and Find Along Route, Geocoding and place finding, polygon rendering and much more. Unique to MWS is a rich web based application for Data management including batch geocoding and interactive management of your private?data sources.?Managing?and querying custom data sources with MWS and presenting the results in web applications with the VE control is a powerful and common combination for developers.

More Info: Feature details,?Online SDK, Discussion Forum, Dev Account Signup

Great for: development on any operating system, server to server applications, stored procedures in databases with WS support, non-web client interfaces?like WAP, mobile, voice, SMS, etc..., SharePoint Integration

3. MapPoint 2006 COM objectThe MapPoint control is included with MapPoint 2006 desktop mapping application. It is a COM/ActiveX object ideal for integration in Windows applications. Since it's store of map data is local, it is very unique among our developer tools?in that it can be used without a net connection. Among the controls strengths are advanced data import and visualization methods - It is easy to take demographic or sales data from a spreadsheet and create stunning data maps with almost no effort. Drive time polygon creation, dragable routes, ?GPS support, and territory management are among the power features.

More Info: MapPoint 2006, Free Trial, Developer documentation, object model, MP2k Magazine

Great for: Thematic mapping, shaded area maps, disconnected/offline applications, Sharepoint Integration?

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