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Maps Blog — Sep 2010

Sep

20

20 10

Bing Maps is coming to an HP printer near...

Yes, you read correctly… Bing Maps will now be available as a mapping option on select HP Photosmart e-All-in-One printer. HP changed the printer game last June when they announced the world’s first web-connected home printer: The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web; and we along with many others were impressed. Now we’re getting into the fun! Beginning this fall, Bing Maps will be available on new HP ePrint enabled home printers worldwide, giving you access to Bing Maps’ best in class high resolution imagery for quick and easy one touch map printing… right from a printer! Read more here www.hp.com/go/InnovationSummit Whit Crump, Bing Maps Read More Yes, you read correctly… Bing Maps will now be available as a mapping option on select HP Photosmart e-All-in-One printer. HP changed the printer game last June when they announced the world’s first web-connected home printer: The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web; and we along with many others were impressed. Now we’re getting into the fun! Beginning this fall, Bing Maps will be available on new HP ePrint enabled home printers worldwide, giving you access to Bing Maps’ best in class high resolution imagery for quick and easy one touch map printing… right... Read More
Sep

16

20 10

Improving the Map App Developer Experience

Since we released the Bing Map App SDK publicly in June, thousands of developers around the world have downloaded it and many have provided us with feedback on their experiences. One of the most frequent comments was that the debugging and testing aspect was, well, cumbersome. As a company that prides itself in its developer tools and its ability to make a developer’s job easier, we felt—no, we knew—we could do better. I am excited to announce the culmination of work based on your feedback: support for one-click debugging of map apps from Visual Studio (aka “F5 debugging”). But wait, there’s more: we’ve also streamlined the entire developer workflow, improving the user interface for the Map App Test Tool and Bing Maps Account Center so you can take the output of your build and submit it directly to our tools and portal without any intermediate steps. These improvements significantly increase developer productivity; what used to take dozens of clicks to complete can now be done in just one. And they’re now available as part of the updated Bing Map App SDK (registration required with Microsoft Connect). At the core of this update... Read More Since we released the Bing Map App SDK publicly in June, thousands of developers around the world have downloaded it and many have provided us with feedback on their experiences. One of the most frequent comments was that the debugging and testing aspect was, well, cumbersome. As a company that prides itself in its developer tools and its ability to make a developer’s job easier, we felt—no, we knew—we could do better. I am excited to announce the culmination of work based on your feedback: support for one-click debugging of map apps from Visual Studio (aka “F5 debugging”... Read More
Sep

16

20 10

Bing Maps Goes Mobile - For Free

More and more developers are choosing Bing Maps, and today there's great news for all of you - the new Windows Phone 7 SDK features Bing Maps as its default map control. But it's not just about Windows Phone - we've made Bing Maps free for you to create consumer-facing mobile applications on any platform. (For details, see the Bing Maps Mobile Terms of Use .) If you're new to Windows Phone development, it's super-easy - we've seen reports of 3-hour-dev cycles vs. two weeks or more for similar-functioning Android builds. Of course you can download the Windows Phone 7 SDK , or check out MSDN's resources to learn more about the new Bing Maps Control for Windows Phone 7. (Click here to see the full Windows Phone 7 SDK news.) REST Easy. More free options are available for other popular mobile platforms through Bing Maps REST Services . Go Mobile Now. It's easy to get started today. Check out our developer resources < http://microsoft.com/maps > to see all the free ways you can create innovative mapping applications, fast. Matthew Quinlan - Group Product Manager, Local and Mapping Read More More and more developers are choosing Bing Maps, and today there's great news for all of you - the new Windows Phone 7 SDK features Bing Maps as its default map control. But it's not just about Windows Phone - we've made Bing Maps free for you to create consumer-facing mobile applications on any platform. (For details, see the Bing Maps Mobile Terms of Use .) If you're new to Windows Phone development, it's super-easy - we've seen reports of 3-hour-dev cycles vs. two weeks or more for similar-functioning Android builds. Of course you can download the Windows Phone 7 SDK , or check... Read More
Sep

16

20 10

Bing Maps Gets Transit Directions

Commuters rejoice! Today Bing Maps added transit routing to its directions options. So, for those of you who like to take the bus, subway, or local rail you now can turn to Bing Maps. This is a very important feature for us as public transit grows in popularity and coverage. There are more than 10.7 billion public transit passenger trips per year in the US alone. In this initial release (i.e. more to come) of Bing Maps transit directions , Bing Maps will cover 11 cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and Vancouver. You’ll notice in the screenshot that the transit information is featured alongside each route option. This helps users easily compare route options based on their existing knowledge of the transit and their preferences. Transit options are available for bus, subway, light rail, and local rail. For those of you interested, in the comments section I’ll post the public transit providers we’re servicing for each city. So you know where to find transit routing, you’ll need to head to our AJAX site on the desktop. Transit is today’s big news, but... Read More Commuters rejoice! Today Bing Maps added transit routing to its directions options. So, for those of you who like to take the bus, subway, or local rail you now can turn to Bing Maps. This is a very important feature for us as public transit grows in popularity and coverage. There are more than 10.7 billion public transit passenger trips per year in the US alone. In this initial release (i.e. more to come) of Bing Maps transit directions , Bing Maps will cover 11 cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC... Read More
Sep

16

20 10

Support Education with the Bing Education...

In our continuing commitment to education through programs such as REDU , today marks the launch of “ Our School Needs ”, a competition open to all public and private schools, grades K thru 12, in the United States. Starting today schools will have the tools needed to create their entry with an essay, pictures and optional video telling us what their school needs the most. Check out the Bing blog for more details . To mark the day, we’re releasing a new map app which helps you make a difference to students in your area. The ‘Bing Education’ map app shows local school information and donation, mentor, and volunteer opportunities in the area. The app integrates opportunities from Mentor Pro, Great Schools, and DonorsChoose.org. The app includes a feature to embed the map externally so you can wear your support proudly on your website and help spread the word. Join us to help give kids and the teachers who help them learn, the opportunity for a better education through supporting Our School Needs. You can read more about Our School Needs and other efforts to improve education in the new Bing Education blog . Matthew Quinlan - Bing Maps ... Read More In our continuing commitment to education through programs such as REDU , today marks the launch of “ Our School Needs ”, a competition open to all public and private schools, grades K thru 12, in the United States. Starting today schools will have the tools needed to create their entry with an essay, pictures and optional video telling us what their school needs the most. Check out the Bing blog for more details . To mark the day, we’re releasing a new map app which helps you make a difference to students in your area. The ‘Bing Education’ map app shows local school... Read More
Sep

16

20 10

The DonorsChoose.Org Map App

More years ago than I care to remember, Geoffrey Parsons changed my life. Up until age 11, geography was the most tedious thing I’d ever experienced (these were pre-reality TV days.) All I recall is struggling to recall the major crops of Canada or the annual tin exports of Bolivia. Mr. Parsons was our new geography teacher and he had a mission to bring the world to life. I learned how glaciers shape our landscape and field trips started opening the world up like a book. I studied geography at college, work in maps, and have well-used hiking boots. On a visit to NYC last spring, we met with Charles, Oliver and the DonorsChoose.org team and we started talking about maps. I see in DonorsChoose.org a way of helping the Geoffrey Parsons of the world to make a difference, giving them the resources, support and encouragement they need to bring the world to life for young minds. Hot on the heels of l ast week’s announcement of "REDU" and this week’s announcement of the “ Our School Needs ” contest where schools can win $100,000, we’re sharing the fruit of those discussions, with a new map app designed to help people make a difference in their community... Read More More years ago than I care to remember, Geoffrey Parsons changed my life. Up until age 11, geography was the most tedious thing I’d ever experienced (these were pre-reality TV days.) All I recall is struggling to recall the major crops of Canada or the annual tin exports of Bolivia. Mr. Parsons was our new geography teacher and he had a mission to bring the world to life. I learned how glaciers shape our landscape and field trips started opening the world up like a book. I studied geography at college, work in maps, and have well-used hiking boots. On a visit to NYC last spring, we met... Read More
Sep

15

20 10

Bing Maps & Internet Explorer 9 (Beta...

The Internet Explorer 9 beta has just been released and if you are as nosy as I am, you probably already downloaded it. Since IE9 has just been released, it can hardly be officially supported but it will work with the latest versions of the Bing Maps SDK’s. There is however an issue with the older version 6.2 of the AJAX SDK that will result in rendering problems of VEShape-objects (points, lines and polygons). This issue also affects some samples of the Interactive SDK. The workaround is to either switch IE9 to compatibility mode or better upgrade the Bing Maps AJAX control to version 6.3. In order to do so just change the script reference from <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6. 2 "></script> to <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6 . 3 "></script> Please keep in mind that this still doesn’t mean it is officially supported. To find out about supported browsers for the AJAX control have a look at the SDK here . ^JK Technorati Tags: Bing Maps , AJAX , IE9 , Internet Explorer 9 , Support Read More The Internet Explorer 9 beta has just been released and if you are as nosy as I am, you probably already downloaded it. Since IE9 has just been released, it can hardly be officially supported but it will work with the latest versions of the Bing Maps SDK’s. There is however an issue with the older version 6.2 of the AJAX SDK that will result in rendering problems of VEShape-objects (points, lines and polygons). This issue also affects some samples of the Interactive SDK. The workaround is to either switch IE9 to compatibility mode or better upgrade the Bing Maps AJAX control to version 6... Read More
Sep

13

20 10

MSN Launches the Interactive Guide to the...

Today MSN launched the Interactive Guide to the Battle of Britain . The application was build by Microsoft-partner Shoothill and has 3 major components: 1. The TimeMap is based on Bing Maps Silverlight Control. It shows original maps, reconnaissance imagery and target documents of the German Luftwaffe. You can navigate to various locations through quick links in a target list for London and Coventry. The TimeScope can be dragged around to explore the location; the TimeSlider lets you switch between various historic maps and satellite imagery and the Docs-button allows you to explore DeepZoom-Compositions of the original target documents within the TimeScope. 2. The Archive is a DeepZoom Composition with historic documents and photos. As usual Shoothill has created this composition as a huge mosaic. Zoom closer to explore the secrets not only of the mosaic itself but also of once top secret documents. 3. The Photosynth "Hangar" contains Photosynth -Collections of the Heinkel He 111, the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane in the RAF Museum in London. There is a lot to explore check it out for yourself here . ^JK Technorati Tags: Bing Maps , Shoothill... Read More Today MSN launched the Interactive Guide to the Battle of Britain . The application was build by Microsoft-partner Shoothill and has 3 major components: 1. The TimeMap is based on Bing Maps Silverlight Control. It shows original maps, reconnaissance imagery and target documents of the German Luftwaffe. You can navigate to various locations through quick links in a target list for London and Coventry. The TimeScope can be dragged around to explore the location; the TimeSlider lets you switch between various historic maps and satellite imagery and the Docs-button allows you to explore DeepZoom... Read More
Sep

12

20 10

Meet the Bing Maps Team at the AGI GeoCommunity...

The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) will hold its annual conference - AGI GeoCommunity '10 - in Stratford-upon-Avon on September 28th to 30th 2010. Bing Maps is one of the sponsors and several members of the team will be present throughout the conference. If you plan to visit the AGI GeoCommunity pop in and visit us at our booth or attend our session on “Mapping in the Cloud”. I will be talking about hosting Bing Maps applications on Windows Azure , using the spatial functions in SQL Azure and integrating with Codename “Dallas” . Holiday Inn, Bridgefoot, Stratford Upon Avon, CV37 6YR ^JK Technorati Tags: Bing Maps , Events , AGI , Virtual Earth , Windows Azure , SQL Azure , SQL Spatial , Codename "Dallas" Read More The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) will hold its annual conference - AGI GeoCommunity '10 - in Stratford-upon-Avon on September 28th to 30th 2010. Bing Maps is one of the sponsors and several members of the team will be present throughout the conference. If you plan to visit the AGI GeoCommunity pop in and visit us at our booth or attend our session on “Mapping in the Cloud”. I will be talking about hosting Bing Maps applications on Windows Azure , using the spatial functions in SQL Azure and integrating with Codename “Dallas” . Holiday Inn, Bridgefoot... Read More
Sep

07

20 10

Bing Maps for WordPress – Take 2

A while ago Chris Pendleton had blogged about Bing Maps for WordPress . In his post he described a plugin that was developed by Rich Gubby using the Bing Maps AJAX Control. Just yesterday I discovered now another Bing Maps plugin for WordPress . This one is using the Bing Maps Silverlight Control and was developed by Regart.net . You can download the plugin directly from the WordPress Plugin Directory . Once you have installed and activated the plugin you can define a couple of default properties in the Settings: One mandatory property is the Bing Maps Key and if you don’t have one yet you can create it at the Bing Maps Portal . After you have entered your key you can start right away using the plugin. When you create a new post you can either use special tags in the editor or use a wizard that can be launched through a new button in the editor. When you launch the wizard you can enter properties like culture, centre-point of the map and locations of pushpins and the tags will automatically be generated for you. The short-code would look like this [sl-bingmaps background="transparent" width="100%" height="400" NavigationVisibility="1" CopyrightVisibility="1"... Read More A while ago Chris Pendleton had blogged about Bing Maps for WordPress . In his post he described a plugin that was developed by Rich Gubby using the Bing Maps AJAX Control. Just yesterday I discovered now another Bing Maps plugin for WordPress . This one is using the Bing Maps Silverlight Control and was developed by Regart.net . You can download the plugin directly from the WordPress Plugin Directory . Once you have installed and activated the plugin you can define a couple of default properties in the Settings: One mandatory property is the Bing Maps Key and if you don’t have one... Read More