微软必应地图（Bing Maps， formerly Virtual Earth）

经过数月的CTP预览版本，微软终于发布必应地图SilverLight 1.0版（Bing Maps Silverlight Control Version 1.0)。关于必应地图SilverLight版的好处我就不多费口舌了，总之就是通过RIA（Rich Internet Application）创造下一代LBS位置服务应用。or your grubby, coding hands and vividly, creative minds to start bringing to life the next generation of location-based applications. The Bing Maps Silverlight Control adds stunning aesthetic, unmatched performance and an innovative revolution to an already strong arsenal contained under the Bing Maps Platform’s umbrella. Let’s skip the marketing jazz and go straight for the gusto – what’s in the Bing Maps Silverlight Control v. 1? Enter bullet list…

• Everything from the CTP was brought forward including support for Deep Zoom, pixel to lat/lon reversal (and vice versa), vector graphics, scalable images and video placement, etc, etc. For more on the CTP check out my blog post, “Introducing The Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control” or watch my session from MIX 2009.

 

 

• Built on Silverlight 3: We’ve upgraded to the latest bits of Silverlight to keep your application development efforts bleeding edge.
• Support for Expression Blend: Add the Bing Maps Silverlight .dlls to your Expression Blend project and modify fields instead of code. Also, your map will appear and modify right before your eyes. The preview also works in Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2…at least it does for me.
• Bing Maps Keys – bye, bye tokens; hello, AppID (or, Keys, as we’re calling it). Request a Bing Maps Key via the Bing Maps Portal and you can embed a single line of code into your application to be authenticated. This means no more round trips for expiring tokens or additional requests for more tokens.
• Out of Browser: Bing Maps Silverlight Control supports Silverlight 3’s popular out of browser feature which allows users to right click an application and save a shortcut on their desktop directly to the Silverlight components of your application.
• Map Mode Extensibility: We added some new classes for extending the map types that are available from with the Bing Maps Silverlight control.
• Pushpin Class: A native pushpin class for adding vector graphics to the Bing Maps Silverlight Control without using the Silverlight native drawing tools. You can still use the Silverlight tools, but now you don’t have to.
• Data Binding (YAY!): Bind your data to a list for easy access and pinning data to the map.
• International Support: The Bing Maps Platform has a number of different languages supported across the Bing Maps AJAX Control and Web Service. Now, you can access those localized map tiles via our Silverlight Control.
• Bing Maps Web Service Property Type Safety: We synched the classes, methods and properties with those coming from the Bing Maps Web Service. This means that if you use the Bing Map Web Service you don’t have to convert the results to a different class – you just pass them over to the Bing Maps Silverlight Control and they will be natively handled.

 

 

• Fading Labels: A transparent overlay of road data over aerial maps that will fade away when the mouse isn’t being used.
• Scriptable API: For those of you who don’t have (or don’t want to have) the requirements for using the Bing Maps Silverlight Control (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP 1, Microsoft Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP 1), we’re introducing a JavaScript interface into many of the classes available in the Bing Maps Silverlight Control. This deserves it's own bullet list:
  • Microsoft will host a .xap file that you will point your application to via a OBJECT PARAM tag (very much like the Bing Maps AJAX Control). Your code would look something like this:
    • <object id='slCtl' data="data:application/x-silverlight,"type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="800" height="500">
      • <param name="source" value="http://dev.virtualearth.net/silverlight/mapcontrol/v1/Microsoft.Maps.MapControl.xap" />
      • <param name="enableHtmlAccess" value="true" />
      • <param name="initParams" value="ApplicationId=Your Key”/>
• </object> 

A whole list of scriptable features are available in the Bing Maps Silverlight SDK, but to give you a taste:

• Set Animation
• Set Map View (rectangle, center point, map mode)
• Set Culture (localized maps)
• Set Visibility of the scale bar
• Capture user targets (rectangle, center point, zoom level)
• Location (coordinates)
• Add Pushpins
• Capturing Events (mouse, keyboard, Bing Maps)
• Drawing

Embeddable Maps: A simple URL string for embedding AJAX or Silverlight maps into your applications. Don’t really know how to program? Kind of understand how a URI parameterization works? This might be for you. Take this URI string and place it into an IFRAME SRC tag and you’ll just have a map appear! 

• (Silverlight) http://dev.virtualearth.net/embeddedMap/v1/silverlight/aerial?zoomLevel=10&center=47.5_-122.5&pushpins=47.5_-122.5
• (AJAX) http://dev.virtualearth.net/embeddedMap/v1/AJAX/aerial?zoomLevel=10&center=47.5_-122.5&pushpins=47.5_-122.5
• Embeddable maps supports the following features:
  • Map Mode: Set the map mode. mapMode={Road, Aerial, AerialWithLabels, Birdseye, BirdseyeWithLabels}
  • Zoom Level: Set the map zoom level: zoomLevel={1-21}
  • Center: Set the map center point: center={latitude_longitude}
  • Heading: Set the map heading: heading:{North, South, East, West}
  • Pushpins: Places pushpins on the map: pushpins={latitude_longitude}
  • Culture: Set the map localization: culture={en-us}

Holy smokes! This is a lot to digest. Take it all in…. Now, take a breather because we’ve changed the Terms of Use that should put smiles on a lot of faces out there. The changes to the Terms of Use are so big, I’ve decided to write an entire blog entry dedicated just for that, "Bing Maps Terms of Use Changes; Benefit Educators, Not-for-Profits and Developers."

Here are some helpful links:

• Bing Maps Silverlight Control Installable (.dlls are inside the .msi package)
• Bing Maps Silverlight Interactive SDK
• Bing Maps AJAX Interactive SDK
• Bing Maps AJAX Control SDK
• Bing Maps Silverlight Control SDK
• Bing Maps Web Services SDK
• Bing Maps Platform Account Management Center

 In the mean time, download the .dlls for the Bing Maps Silverlight Map Control. Also, watch the video about what the Bing Maps Silverlight Control means to Microsoft, it’s partners and customers and developers. And, this is only the beginning…

本来我想把标题取的更华丽一些，比如“必应地图革命性的升级”之类的。但是，这次更新离我想象中的还有些距离，至少我之前看到的内部版不完全是这样的，因此姑且算是个过渡版本吧，期待更完美必应地图。

 

不过无论如何，这次升级动作比较大，整体界面风格和之前的版本有了彻底的变化。主要的更新包括以下内容：

今天，必应地图发布2.0版本，将会有很大变化。敬请关注http://maps.bing.com/ 。

我会带来详细介绍。

 

Valued Bing Maps for Enterprise Partner,   We are excited to announce that the latest release of the Bing Maps Platform is officially here! The Bing Maps Platform brings location data to life by making it easier to visualize, understand, and analyze. The rich imagery, quality geospatial data, and leading-edge technology of Bing Maps is already being used by thousands of organizations, governments, and developers worldwide. Now, with this latest release, it’s more powerful, faster, and easier to get started, due to improvements in three fundamental areas:   UNPRECEDENTED INNOVATION — Bing Maps now includes a Silverlight Control, so that the rich, multimedia benefits native to Silverlight, like embedded video, can now be integrated into Bing Maps. PLATFORM PERFORMANCE — Our commitment to fast and accurate performance for users across the world continues with this latest release, including our growing network of global data centers that bring both services and content closer to our customers and their end users, as well as improved search and geocoding capabilities in Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. EASY TO USE — New lightweight “keys” make the authentication process faster and easier, and provide access to the rich features of the Bing Maps APIs.   To learn more about the release, watch the announcement video and visit www.microsoft.com/maps for developer resources and detailed information.   Join Chris Pendleton, Microsoft Bing Maps Technical Evangelist, at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, on Thursday, December 10, for an informational webcast on this latest release of the Bing Maps Platform. Register today.   If you have any questions, please contact your Bing Maps Sales Specialist, or visit the Web site.   Thank you,   The Bing Maps Platform Team Microsoft Corporation

这几天RIA（Rich Internet Application）这个词总不期而遇，想了想万事都有其存在的道理。就好比当许多人还在为第一套房奋斗的时候，一部分人在考虑提高生活质量，比如低密度、高绿化率以及温泉、菜园等外在条件。互联网应用也不例外，当我们通过技术解决了很多基本社会生活需求的时候，我们忍不住考虑一下建设小康型互联网。于是有了Flash，有了SilverLight，有了HTML5。犹如贫困的生活不代表爱情的真谛，朴素的软件界面不代表政府工作的严肃性，为什么我们就不能让工作变得更有意思一些呢。

 

传统的在线地图几乎千篇一律的采用了JavaScript控件形式，我们必须承认这种革新确实给开发带来了很大的便捷，使普通开发人员不需要拥有GIS背景知识也可以开发一些简单的LBS应用。当微软给出了在线交互式SDK以后，程序开发就变得更简单了，仅需要拷贝、粘贴、替换一些参数。案例、效果、代码一条龙

 

当微软今年3月推出必应地图SilverLight控件（Bing Maps SL Control）时，当时并没有太大的感触，并且觉得舍弃了三维模型比较可惜（也许将来Bing Maps SL会加上）。但是，随着SilverLight技术的不断发展以及国内开发人员对SilverLight越来越熟悉，基于SilverLight的地图应用也越来越广泛，其中有几个网站给我留下了比较深刻的印象。

 

1、IDV Solutions，DOD Collaborative GIS

IDV Solutions是微软全球金牌合作伙伴，为必应地图开发了很多解决方案。上图展示的就是IDV其中一个项目DOD Collaborative GIS，国防部协作GIS平台。当发生突发事件时（恐怖分子劫持人质、火宅、交通事故等等），相关部门可以在线协同作战，在必应地图上进行作战方案研究，模拟事故现场，模拟兵力部署，模拟进攻路线等等。必应地图提供的高清晰卫星图可以清楚的展示事件现场的地理形势，而SilverLight提供了良好的页面交互性。用户可以很方便的将各种对象，如飞机、卡车、人员、建筑等，拖拽到地图上。

可以想象，假如配备了这套系统，结合实时视频数据，2008年春节雪灾时温总理就不用亲临现场了，只需要将各部门召集在一起进行网络部署，调动一切可调动的人力物力，制定救灾方案。

 

2、微软MSN Travel Guide

前一篇文章中已经介绍过微软亚洲研究院开发的旅游指南（Travel Guide），此处重新提出这项应用一方面是因为它很好的结合了必应地图、必应搜索以及SilverLight，另一方面它的思路比较符合我的想法。我一直认为搜索不应当仅仅是上百度或Google查一下某个关键字，然后得到一些网页链接。当温饱型搜索实现以后，我们应该追求小康型搜索。我理解的小康型搜索应该比垂直搜索更进一步，将不同的垂直信息有效整合形成新的解决方案，满足某一类型的需求，比如旅游指南。

Travel Guide做了一个很有益的尝试，如果有一天有人一想到要去旅游首先上Travel Guide搜一下，那时候才是Travel Guide真正成功了。目前看来还有很大一段路要走。一方面，还可以从游客的角度去考虑，一般旅游之前都希望获得哪些信息，需要做什么准备工作等等。另外一方面，在展示方面可以做的更好，比如微软还有PhotoSynth，可以对照片进行智能分析，显示景点全貌；微软有TrueSpace，可以进行三维建模；微软有强大的合作伙伴群体，为微软提供丰富准确的数据，以及与旅游相关的后续服务，诸如酒店预订、机票预订等等。

 

3、气候管理系统

最近听的另一个比较多的词汇是“数据可视化”。我说朴素的界面不代表政府工作的严肃性，汇报工作不一定只靠格式化的文档和枯燥的数据。采用必应地图，可以使工作更轻松，更有意思，更有效率。这个“气候管理系统”充分利用必应地图和SilverLight的优点，将“数据可视化”理念发挥到极致。这个系统采用了现在比较流行mashup概念，即将不同数据层在基础地图上叠加，比如风图、云图、水量图、雨量图等等。小小的预测一下，这种形式的气候管理系统将成为一个里程碑，成为行业的示范性项目。

想挑战吗？有很好的创意？想赢得数十万奖金吗？来参加Navteq的2010年LBS全球大奖赛吧！微软必应地图首次赞助此项赛事。任何对LBS位置业务、移动和互联网有热情的开发人员都可以参与这次盛事，并有机会赢取全球知名公司的投资。你就是下一个LiveCast, Skyhook Wireless 或 Navman – 之前的获奖项目。

 

什么是NAVTEQ LBS Challenge？以下文字摘自NAVTEQ的原文：the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge focused on driving the development and visibility of innovative location-based solutions (LBS) for wireless devices. The Global LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the wireless industry and a global symbol of LBS innovation and opportunity. From business applications to sports, travel and security, integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data facilitates the discovery of the next wave of LBS using dynamic positioning technology.

NAVTEQ Global LBS大奖赛重点关注无线设备上具有创新性的LBS应用，从体育、旅游到安全等各个领域，结合Navteq丰富准确的地图数据，探索下一代LBS业务。