Bing maps V8 control brings exciting upgrades for developers

For developers, being able to pack more features into apps is definitely a plus. And that’s exactly what Microsoft is trying to help you with. Recently, the giant announced its latest mapping service, the Bing Maps V8 control, which offers high-performance and developer-friendly map control with rich new features such as Streetside imagery, Autosuggest and spatial analytic tools.

In light of Microsoft’s existing mapping platform, Bing Maps V7 SDK, the V8 control is being viewed as a transitional extension. At closer inspection, you’ll discover that the all new V8 is more than just a passing resemblance to its previous version.

Though the core essence of V8 is virtually the same, Microsoft’s new web control and its interactive software development kit (SDK) offer the much-desired agility required for business intelligence (BI) and analytics applications — features that blend mapping and business analytics more effectively.

Designed as partially backwards compatible, the V8 values your time and effort by allowing you to integrate your prior experience from the previous version. Incorporated with an interactive SDK and a set of supplementary MSDN documentation, Microsoft’s recent mapping environment undoubtedly offers easy adaptability. At the same time, it’s important to realize that in order to merge V8 into an application, you will need a Bing Maps key – available from the Bing Maps portal or the Azure Marketplace.

Bing maps V8 control – enticing developers with stunning features

Providing a solid foundation for more data insight, the Bing Maps V8 Control brings to the table the following features:

• Clustering – Visualize sets of large pushpins, grouping and ungrouping, as users alter the zoom level.
• Autosuggest – Dynamic suggestions at the drop of the hat, immediately after you type a location in the search box.
• GeoJSON Support – Facilitates easy import and export of GeoJSON data, the most compatible file format used for sharing and storing spatial data.
• Streetside Imagery – A complete 360-degrees experience of street level imagery.
• Heatmaps – Depicts the density of data points in the form of a heatmap.
• Spatial Data Services module – Makes it possible to retrieve and overlay data stored in the Bing Spatial Data Services on the map. Similarly, you can also access Microsoft’s administrative boundary data and your own data that you can host in this mapping service.
• Spatial Math module – Uniquely performs boolean operations on shapes, and calculates areas and distances, by incorporating a large set of spatial math operations.

V8 puts developers right on the ball by considerably reducing keystrokes and codes

Putting an end to your search for an agile development platform, the Bing Maps V8 reduces the volume of code required to explore its mapping competence. With an updated control, the loading module of the V8 requires lesser keystrokes than its predecessors. Plus, it also offers developers the comfort of passing an array of modules, without the need for loading modules individually.

Interestingly, at its launch, the Bing Maps V8 control effectively loaded two modules at the same time, identically proving its character saving feature with a 98 characters versus 144 characters ratio, as compared to the prior Map V7.

Variants of Bing maps V8 control emboldening developer preferences

Microsoft released its Bing Maps V8 with three added variants—Release, Experimental, and Frozen— that empower you to exploit your potential to the fullest. While the Release mode forms the core component of the software, the Experimental mode helps you gain access to the ‘yet to come’ Bing features. Updated at lesser intervals, the apparently bug-free Frozen mode dispenses a steady structure for critical applications.

At the Build developer conference in San Francisco, Ricky Brundritt, senior program manager in Microsoft’s Bing Maps Customer Advisory group, introduced the Bing Maps V8 and disclosed that “about 70 percent of all the apps out there that are using Bing Maps today are using it for some sort of business intelligence.”

For more information about the Bing Maps V8 contact the Avnet Bing Team

Phone: 1-800-474-3044

Email:  mapping@avnet.com

SDK: http://www.bing.com/api/maps/sdk/mapcontrol/isdk#overview