Virtual Earth, An Evangelist's Blog

Navigation and Location USA 2008 Conference

I’ll be presenting at the Navigation and Location USA 2008 Conference in San Jose, CA on December 3, 2008 presented by Telematics Update. The discussion, “Unlocking New Revenues Through the Web” is one I’m very passionate about. I see quite a few applications come across my computer screen, some dogs, some clever with no business models and some that are just MONEY both functionally and monetarily! There is just SO MUCH opportunity out there and people don’t reap the benefits. People may be looking to save money due to the current state of the economy; however, that doesn’t mean there still isn’t money to be made! It’s just time to spend that money wisely and how much wiser can you be when you know WHERE to spend it! So, if you interested in hearing what I have to say register and come to Silicon Valley. At the very least, download the brochure. 

A little about the Navigation and Location Conference:

Over 2 packed days, we will dive deep into the key topics of discussion including:

• Navigation Transformers! - Find out how the PND, in-dash and mobile segments are evolving… as well as the connected services that will change the face of navigation completely
• Local search domination! - Hear how local search could be crowned the ultimate money spinner in LBS
• Pedestrian, multi-modal... and beyond? - Stay clued up on the new forms of navigation that look set to impact the market!
• Location based advertising…is geo-targeted marketing ready yet?

See you there?

CP

Tracking the Spread of Diabetes in Australia

The Australian National Diabetes Services Scheme has published an interesting Virtual Earth map application illustrating the spread and penetration of diabetes across the country. The Australian Diabetes Map allows users to select a specific area type – National, State, Postcode, Federal Electoral Zone and Local Government Area in order to drill down into the respective geographical regions for analysis of the gender of those with Diabetes, as well as, the type of Diabetes they carry and a plethora of additional information.

The application renders a thematic map overlay highlighting the respective area, and uses thematic shading to illustrate the different percentages across the region. The legend changes as you select the area and type of query you’re look to dig into which makes the application far more dynamic in nature. Users can now see the penetration of Diabetes Type 1 or 2 and the percentage of people carrying it in a far more useful way. The map also includes points using custom icons with additional information in the rollovers to highlight different hospitals, subagents and Aboriginals to connect with patients and potentially calculate proximity and number of locations to population trends to ensure there is ample care available to those who need it.

Alongside the map is a data grid with information about the movement of Diabetes in the respective areas whether there’s an increase, decrease or no change using direction arrows. The Diabetes queries allow for insight on the type – gestational, type 1, type 2 or other; the respective number of people affected, the percentage of the population in the given area and a measure against the national average. Additional information is also provided such as percentage who require insulin, percentage using a pump, age groups, gender, Aboriginals, number assessed in the last 12 months and the type of concession (insurance) used. This type of information (geospatially enabled) can ensure there are ample supplies for the number of people in the respective regions who need health care.

Per the web site, “The Australian Diabetes Map is the only national map monitoring the spread of diabetes in Australia. The Map uses groundbreaking information technology to present population data about Australians diagnosed with diabetes. It shows the numbers of people diagnosed with diabetes in all parts of Australia with information on age, gender and type of diabetes. The data in the Map has been sourced from the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) Registrant database. The Map can be searched by state, electorate and postcode and also provides breakdowns by gender, age and type of diabetes. Used by policy makers and citizens alike.”

Now, save this data over time, animate it and watch as the proverbial winds push the disease around the country and perhaps we can finally discover why it continues to spread the way it does, but more importantly potentially limit the spread and help more people live normal lives.

CP

Geospatial Map Annotations in the Spatial Wiki

We in the GIS and LBS world have long wondered how it would be possible to create such a mapping engine that would render the most accurate, up to date maps available with roads and points of interest, geographic boundaries, etc., etc. Let’s put geopolitical issues aside (or not) and in our heads we’ve all considered this open map system which allows users to contribute to a wiki of sorts to create maps of their respective areas where there are experts and have the data readily available. The concept is coming closer to reality with IDV’s Spatial Wiki which allows you to contribute to the creation of what may become a serious repository of location information inclusive of all the data we the world need to improve the scale and accuracy of mapping out the world in order to use it as the canvas in which we paint our information for data visualization. The interface for this has been challenging, but with Virtual Earth and Silverlight on the front end and IDV’s Fusion Server (a layer atop of SQL Server) in the back end it seems the time is right for just such an experiment to get us a step closer to spatial Shangri-la.

The site allows you to search through the current repository of user contributed data. You can modify data that exists today. You can restore data since the Drawings have a time dimension / source control feature added to them. Or, you could just draw your own maps to create specific regions of interest to you and save them for future reference. I created a small collection (known as a Drawing) of information over Perth, Australia. As a part of my new role I now cover Australia in helping educate users (and, yes, incenting people to license Virtual Earth) in the land of Oz, so it’s time to explore a bit.

Once I created my Drawing, it immediately showed up at the top of the drawing list filtered by most recently added (you can also sort the listings by most popular, alphabetical or preview status). I can take this data for my own selfish needs and export it to a SQL Server 2008 .SQL file or a .KML file (which can be imported into Virtual Earth or, of course, Google Earth). I could also share my Drawing by sending a link which brings users right to my Drawing. Both of these options appear in the Drawing list next to each item.

Now, what’s great is how the community can use my data. I did a search on Singapore (I now own Asia Pacific too). First off, the auto filter sorted my results to a single item, so as I was typing the list grew smaller and smaller. Love that. With the single result, I was able to then modify the Drawing by adding my own description. Now, I can either modify this Drawing by saving the information or I can duplicate it and make it my own. The ultimate shared resource for spatial information!

The Spatial Wiki is very much like the Collections feature on Live Search Maps in that you can store your collection of points, polygons and lines in a cloud and search on them. While Collections on Live Search Maps play a bigger role in the Microsoft strategy by indexing the results in Live Search, the Spatial Wiki fills a void for some really great, easy to use tools for sharing and duplicating map annotations. Now, a year from now when the wiki is good and full, what do you think IDV is going to do with all this data? That, my friends, is the million dollar question.

CP

Mr. Obama, Please Save Us All….

MSNBC just published an interesting little Virtual Earth mashup highlighting mayoral cries from around the nation. The topics include economy (by far number 1), energy, health care, immigration, infrastructure, national security, public safety, taxes and budgets and “other.”

The application uses a simple dashboard interface to turn on and off the different data layers. It’s pretty interesting / humorous to read some of these requests and the format they’re written in. Some of them sound like letters to Santa Claus - “Two issues I would like on President-elect Obama’s to do list: Universal health care and fix our economy,” Willie W Herenton, Mayor, Memphis, TN. Yeah, Mr. Obama, if you could fix those that would be great. I’ll spare my political views for a guaranteed firestorm will ensue.

Politics are funny like that – just drive the responsibility up the chain. I noticed there were no requests from the mayor of my home town of San Diego. I like that, Mr. Sanders – take charge and responsibility for your city. I’m hoping you clean up San Diego’s reputation created by previous politicians. Down let us down.

I digress. The application is super slick and a creative way to visualize the opinions and asks of our future President. Using the map to view all of this data you get a good sense of not only what the issues are, but where they exists around the country. I was actually surprised immigration wasn’t more prevalent along the southern border states along Mexico. It certainly ONLY exists there, but I would expect more requests. So, either the economy is a top concern for everyone or the US Border Patrol is doing a damn good job.

CP

Tracking Wild Fires with Pitney Bowes and Virtual Earth

Some may be thinking Public Enemy prophets with their song “Burn Hollywood Burn” after seeing some of the destruction in Southern California. Chuck didn’t mention Montecito or Sylmar in the lyrics, though. Sadness to my peeps who still live down there. Come on guys! It happens somewhere in SoCal every year! It’s like the Bizarro California Lottery for crying out loud. Move. I digress. 

In an effort to prevent and manage these situations, Pitney Bowes Advanced Concepts and Technologies Group in collaboration with PB’s MapInfo Group has built out an extremely useful and timely application to provide data for those who want more information about the fires, are concerned about the fires or concerned about those fighting the fires around the United States. The application simply dubbed, The Fire Locator, has multiple dimensions of data to overlay atop a Microsoft Virtual Earth map with a Silverlight user experience. 

You can navigate the map to a specific area or use the geocoding box. The beauty is in the overlays. Check out this list of data feeds:

• NASA Modis Data - NASA’s MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. The data captured by these satellites include geothermal differences on the earth’s surface. This use of geothermal imaging shows hotspots that are likely to be wildfires.
• Incident Information System (InciWeb) - InciWeb is an interagency information site that provides point information regarding the location of wildfires. InciWeb is a combination of data and information gathered from multiple government agencies. The data provided is accurate and updated frequently.
• GeoMac Multi Agency Coordination (GeoMac) - GeoMac is an interagency website that provides fire perimeter data from various incident intelligence sources (e.g. GPS data, Infrared Imagery). GeoMac data is often updated on a daily basis, ensuring accuracy.
• California Wildfire Risk Zones - The multiple components of MapInfo Risk Data Product Suite combine to give a detailed picture of the natural disaster history & potential risks in a region. FireLocator integrates with the wildfire component of this data to show classifications based on DRAFT model results for Fire Hazard Severity Zoning (FHSZ) developed in January 2007.
• Aerial Thermal Imaging
• Fire Boundaries
• Flickr Photos
• Local News Feeds

The site even stores a repository of your own locations of interest. And, did you check out the opacity controls? The dashboard allows users to check on or off any of the data feeds (both vector and raster), but also control the opaqueness of the feeds. So, if you want to lighten or darken the raster layers, you can do so simply by shifting the control for the respective layer to the left or right respectively. Powerful AND easy to use!

You can read the press release for yourself, but a bit about the application from PB, “FireLocator is an application created by Pitney Bowes Advanced Concepts and Technologies (AC&T) in collaboration with Pitney Bowes MapInfo. Currently released in Beta at FireLocator.net, this free, state-of-the-art site disseminates timely critical wildfire data and information to the public. FireLocator integrates data from multiple sources to provide users with comprehensive views of both current and past wildfires. By entering a target address in the address bar, users are able to mark a location of interest on the map using Pitney Bowes MapInfo’s geocoding technology. This allows users to track fires around a specific address, neighborhood, or area of interest.”

Nice job guys; and again, very timely.

CP

Developing Virtual Earth iPhone Applications with Objective-C

You’ve been waiting for this post. If you’ve tried doing any iPhone development with Virtual Earth you’ve probably been swearing up a storm, beating down your computer, and lost hours of sleep wondering how Loopt, Weather Central and now NMobile got their iPhone apps working. Well, Colin Cornaby from Consonance Software may just be your new best friend. He’s the one who build the NMobile application I posted to the blog yesterday - “Mobile Speed Trap Mapping with iPhone” – which uses 100% supported code from Microsoft Virtual Earth to get the road and aerial map tiles via the Virtual Earth Web Services and use them for your iPhone applications.

Before we begin I want to address the challenges so you have an appreciation for just how HUGE this it.

• First, you’ll have to write against the Virtual Earth Web Service which communicates using SOAP XML, so you can’t use JavaScript. Um, ok.
• Next, Apple forgot to include iPhone support for SOAP (oops), so you’ll have to create request packets and parse response packets to and from the service, respectively.
• Then, with the Virtual Earth Imagery Service you only get a single quad key back (a part of the tile URL); and, with that you need put together the entire tile URL.
• Next, you’ll have to reconstruct the Virtual Earth tile pyramid extrapolated out from the quad key returned from VEWS. The tile pyramid schema is documented in the MSDN Technical Article, “Virtual Earth Tile System.”
• Finally, you’ll have to put it all together into a pretty iPhone-ish interface.

Wow! This sounds treacherous (but very doable). And, well, it would be treacherous but there’s always someone out there who has the drive to make stuff happen. Colin from Consonance just so happens to be that someone you’ve been looking for. Ready?

Consonance Software has created the VirtualEarthKit for ObjC / Cocoa developers. The VirtualEarthKit contains a set of APIs that you can reference for your iPhone projects to develop iPhone applications using Microsoft Virtual Earth. So, download the VirtualEarthKit (in SVN Repository | trunk | English.lproj | InfoPlist.strings), add a reference to the library from your project, then access the VirtualEarthKit APIs which automatically wrap the Virtual Earth Web Service requests and parse the responses for your application. The VirtualEarthKit supports many of the VEWS features, in addition to getting maps, including geocoding, reverse geocoding, adding pushpins and user profile elements (device type and distance unit enumerations).

Here’s a little sample to whet you Cocoa / ObjC devs on how to access VE tiles:

//
//  VEImageryService.m
//  MapView
//
//  Created by Colin Cornaby on 10/12/08.
//  Copyright 2008 __Consonance Software__. All rights reserved.
//

#import "VEImageryService.h"
#import "VEImageryResult.h"
#import "VEGetMapURIResponse.h"
#import "VEServicePrivate.h"

@implementation VEImageryService

-(VEServiceResponse *)getImageryMetadata:(VEImageryMetadataRequest *)request
{
    xmlNodePtr xmlRequest;
    [request serializeToXMLQuery:&xmlRequest];
    NSString *server = @"http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc";
    if(self.realm==kVEStagingRealm)
        server = @"http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc";
    xmlNodePtr result = [super sendVERequestWithBody:xmlRequest action:@"http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/geocode/contracts/IImageryService/GetImageryMetadata" server:[NSURL URLWithString:server] error:nil];
    xmlNodePtr body = nil;
    for(body = result->children; body; body = body->next)
    {
        if(!strcmp((char *)body->name, "GetImageryMetadataResult"))
            break;
    }
    VEServiceResponse *response = nil;
    if(body)
        response = [[VEServiceResponse alloc] initWithXMLNode:body resultClass:[VEImageryResult class]];
    return response;
}

-(VEGetMapURIResponse *)getMapURI:(VEGetMapURIRequest *)request
{
    xmlNodePtr xmlRequest;
    [request serializeToXMLQuery:&xmlRequest];
    NSString *server = @"http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc";
    if(self.realm==kVEStagingRealm)
        server = @"http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc";
    xmlNodePtr result = [super sendVERequestWithBody:xmlRequest action:@"http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imagery/contracts/IImageryService/GetMapUri" server:[NSURL URLWithString:server] error:nil];
    xmlNodePtr body = nil;
    for(body = result->children; body; body = body->next)
    {
        if(!strcmp((char *)body->name, "GetMapUriResult"))
            break;
    }
    VEGetMapURIResponse *response = nil;
    if(body)
        response = [[VEGetMapURIResponse alloc] initWithXMLNode:body resultClass:[VEImageryResult class]];
    return response;
}

@end

A little about the VirtualEarthKit from the Consonance web site:

VirtualEarthKit is a framework to allow Cocoa developers to communicate with Microsoft Virtual Earth. Microsoft Virtual Earth provides a wide range of services, including geocoding, reverse geocoding, map imagery, route guidance, and business lookup.

Dependencies for VirtualEarthKit have also been minimized in order to keep VirtualEarthKit portable for different OS X platforms. VirtualEarthKit uses LibXML for constructing all SOAP requests. To facilitate clean integration with Cocoa and the iPhone SDK, VirtualEarthKit requires the CoreLocation framework. Fortunately, VirtualEarthKit for Mac OS X uses Philippe Casgrain's re-implementation of CoreLocation for Mac OS X. Integration with CoreLocation allows developers for the iPhone platform to use VirtualEarthKit cleanly with the phone's GPS implementation.

Okay, so this is just game changing for mobile mapping. iPhone has completely taken off and I receive inquiries every day for iPhone developer support and licensing. Well, let’s get developing! Can adding maps to your iPhone app get any easier now? If you still need a license, contact me so we can get that out of the way. Download the VirtualEarthKit now and get cranking!

CP

Mobile Speed Trap Mapping with iPhone

The newest app in the Apple iStore just may save you some cash. Njection Mobile (NMobile) allows users to find and report current and historical locations along the roads where our friendly law enforcement officers tend to hang out before stopping us for our autographs. NMobile uses Microsoft Virtual Earth to map out where these speed traps are, specifically with regards to your position. The application ties into the every-so-useful GPS on the iPhone to locate position, then queries other user-reported speed trap locations around the map. The locations can be submitted via the iPhone or their web-based application creating the ultimate speed trap repository available to you when you need it most – while you’re driving. Just don’t let them know you’re using your phone while driving – in Washington, that’s another ticket! Download NMobile directly from the iStore now.

Check out the feature list:

• Speech notification of Speed Traps based on current moving direction, speed of the driver, and distance to closest point
• Microsoft Virtual Earth display of Speed Traps (sweetness)
• Live Updates of speed traps updated from the website or other iPhone users
• Support for Landscape and Portrait mode
• Speed Trap Ranking based on level of enforcement and time of day area is monitored
• 3G and 2.5G Compatible
• Submit Speed traps from the iPhone or on the website
• Rate Speed traps from the iPhone or on the website

A bit from the press release: Portland, Oregon - Njection LLC is delighted to introduce Njection Mobile (NMobile), their worldwide speed trap notification system for iPhone 3G. Designed specifically to take advantage of the 3G's unique abilities and interface, NMobile was built for drivers so they can be notified to the location of speed traps, red light cameras, and speed detection devices.

Drivers may be alerted audibly to approaching speed traps based on several different criteria. The application uses Active Intelligence Selection System to alert users to the most relevant speed trap, based on speed, direction of travel, and current time. Users can submit and verify speed traps directly from the iPhone as well.

Money. And, they’re using the Virtual Earth Web Service Imagery Service for getting tiles! This is officially the first customer using the newly introduced methods via the Virtual Earth Web Service to get tiles. How did they write their Objective-C Virtual Earth Wrappers, reconstruct the Virtual Earth tiles into a fluid AJAXish experience and parse SOAP XML packets when iPhone doesn’t natively support SOAP? Stay tuned for another post on that – it’s a doozie, so don’t miss it. Download NMobile now!

CP

Virtual Earth Survey, November 2008

We’re putting out another survey to get your feedback on Microsoft Virtual Earth. Tell us how you REALLY feel. The first 500 respondents get a $10 Visa gift card. If you don’t have time now and don’t care about the $10, but still want to send us your feedback the survey will be up through Dec. 1.

Access the survey – this is your chance to influence the future of Virtual Earth.

CP

Community Weather Reporting with Virtual Earth

Weather Central has just launched a new beta community site called ReportStorms.com that let’s you report storms in your area. This is an interesting approach to social networking with weather on a micro-local scale. The site, built with Microsoft Virtual Earth and a Silverlight interface, allows you to view in climate weather around the world but even better it allows you to report weather happenings wherever you are. You can register for free and login to report conditions anywhere you can click on a Virtual Earth map….which is anywhere in the world.

The site is very straightforward. If you see an icon on the map, you can click it to see what the event is in that respective location. There’s a helpful navigation bar with symbology hidden in the “View Storm Reports” tab. Clicking any of the symbols will filter the map turning off (or on) any of the weather types – Tornado, Wind, Ice Accumulation, Storm Accumulation, Fire, Hail, Flooding, Rain Accumulation, Precipitation Change, Cluster of Events (sounds exciting!) or Other. I’m sure “Other” is reserved for the San Diego weather person to say, “70 degrees and perfect,” so they feel like they can contribute to the community. Kidding – it’s all sour grapes.

Additionally, you can narrow your weather search by filtering on the date. This means you can see whether alerts that are happening today or go back and see the history of weather for any given day. What was the weather like in Seattle today? I wouldn’t know since I was in the office from 7:30AM – 8PM and I don’t have windows. I could always check the site to see anything exciting happened. That’s just depressing – dark on the way to work, dark on the way home. Love Seattle, though.

To report an event, go to ReportStorms.com and simply right click anywhere on the map, then click the “Report Event” button the pops up. Enter the date, the time and the type of event (as listed above). Now, depending on the type of event you select you could provide some additional information such as with Wind – is it windy enough to knock down some branches or are we seeing building damage; or, Hail – is it the size of a pea, penny, quarter, ping pong ball all the way up to softball (4.50 inches)….good lord! Where does that happen? Where do you head for cover?!? Additionally, you can upload a picture or video with your report (top photos and videos are also browse-able in the navigation). Click submit and your event is instantly planted onto the site for the world to see.

The site is built in a social aspect, so with your profile you can fill in your location information, upload an avatar, discuss weather in their forums, generally share weather information with people or just talk weather. Here’s a great introduction to meet someone on this site, “So, how’s the weather?”

CP

Photosynth Exploration in Live Search Maps

Finding cool Photosynth’s just got a heck of a lot easier. We’ve just introduced a new way to explore Photosynth’s as a part of our Collection Explorer feature on Live Search Maps.

2 things - (1) how do you find Photosynths and (2) how did they get there??

Alright, so in order to find Photosynths in Live Search Maps you’ll search for a location – Woodinville, WA, for example. In the welcome pane, you’ll see a link for “Explore Collections” which you click and begin seeing all kinds of collections. You can then improve your search using a helpful toolbar based on tags, collections with photos, collections with 3D models, collections with MapCruncher layers, and collections with Photosynths! Additionally, you can sort these by relevance (if you input a search term), distance from the center of the map, date added and last updated.

Click the Photosynth button and you’ll see a search result list of Photosynth collections. There are two places to launch the Photosynth viewer for a collection item from Live Search Maps – in the search results and in the rollover for each pushpin. These links will send you over to Photosynth.com to view the Synth.

Ok, second question, how did they get there? Remember when we launched Photosynth and Photosynther availability to the public and I wrote “Photosynth Released - Now, Let's Mash it with Virtual Earth?” Well, in that blog I mentioned that if you would geo-annotate a synth it would be indexed into Live Search Maps in the future. Done.

If you’ve made any Photosynth’s you can go back to Photosynth.com, login with your Window’s Live ID and give the Synth a placement on the map. This will index into Live Search Maps and people will find your synths just like I found the Columbia Winery Synth I uploaded some time ago.

CP

Virtual Earth Imagery Release – October, 2008

Another massive release of aerial photography for Virtual Earth – 41.07 TB worth. 

Orthos

Spain

• Barcelona
• Malaga
• Manresa
• Mijas
• Oviedo
• Sagunto
• Vigo
• Vilanova
• Vitoria
• Zaragoza

Japan

• Sapporo
• Nagano
• Mt Fuji
• Nagoya
• Osaka-Kyoto
• Matsuyama
• Kobe
• Hiroshima
• Fukuoka-KitaKyushu

Obliques (Bird’s Eye)

United States

• Montgomery, AL
• Elmore, AL
• Baldwin, AL
• Pima County, AZ
• Mohave, AZ
• Coconino, AZ
• Orange County, CA
• Los Angeles County, CA
• Napa County, CA
• City of Merced, CA
• Arapahoe, CO
• Mesa, CO
• Polk County, FL
• Hillsborough, FL
• Volusia, FL
• Orange County, FL
• Broward, FL
• Miami-Dade County, FL
• Manatee, FL
• Jacksonville, FL
• Clark, GA
• Honolulu, HI

• Grundy, IL
• Sangamon, IL
• Marion County, IN
• Wyandotte, KS
• Warren, KY
• Caddo, LA
• Baltimore, MD
• Montgomery (including. DC surrounding metro), MD
• Kent, MI
• Burlington, NJ
• Bernalilo, NM
• Saratoga, NY
• Cumberland, NC
• Cass, ND
• Cincinnati Metro, OH

• Clermont, OH
• Franklin, OH
• Jackson, OR (partial)
• Deschutes, OR
• Monroe, PA
• Philadelphia, PA
• State of Rhode Island

• Houston/Galveston, TX
• Kaufman, TX
• Rusk, TX
• Salt Lake, UT (fill)
• Norfolk, VA
• Chesapeake, VA
• Stafford, VA
• King Co, WA (part 3)
• Washington, DC (metro)
• Milwaukee, WI
• Sheboygan, WI

Japan

• Tokyo, Japan

Australia

• Geelong, Australia
• Melbourne, Australia

Canada

• o Ottawa, Ontario
• o Red Deer, Alberta
• o Lethbridge, Alberta
• o Medicine Hat, Alberta
• o Regina, Saskatchewan
• o Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
• o Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

• o Swift Current, Saskatchewan
• o Yorkton, Saskatchewan
• o Estevan, Saskatchewan
• o Weyburn, Saskatchewan

United Kingdom

• Guildford, UK
• Grays Tilbury, UK
• Manchester, UK

Germany

• Ruhrgebeit Region, DE
• Koln/Cologne, DE
• Bonn, DE
• Hamm, DE

Austria

• Vienna, AT

Luxembourg

• Luxembourg, LX

You’ve got lots of new imagery to look at. Better get cracking.

CP

Pushpins and Virtual Earth Web Service Maps

With the Virtual Earth Web Service not only can you get static maps via the Imagery Service, but you can add some of the default pushpins you see in Live Search Maps to the static map that is returned to you if you set the Pushpins as a part of the request. In the Imagery Service there are several options you can set, but the Pushpin is not one of them. Pushpins actually reside in the MapUriRequest Class, so you’ll need to set them there. First, you create your Pushpin array, then pass the array into the MapUriRequest.

Some notes before you begin:

• There is a 10 Pushpin limit to any Virtual Earth Web Service map.
• The Label for the pushpin has a limit of up to 2 characters.
• There are 26 icons to choose from in the Pushpin.IconStyle Property Reference Table.
• As with most of my code samples, I don’t provide error handling (boring for me).
• VEWSX.ImageryService is a reference to the Virtual Earth Imagery Service.
• VEWSX.TokenService reference is to the Virtual Earth Token Service.
• The Authenticate.Authentication method is in an class called Authenticate I created for validating my VEWS credentials for the TokenService.

Here’s the code (C#, of course):

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using VEWSX.ImageryService;
using VEWSX.TokenService;

namespace VEWSX
{
    public partial class Map : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            string myToken = Authenticate.Authentication(Page.Request.UserHostAddress);
            ImageryService.MapUriRequest myMapURIRequest = new MapUriRequest();
            myMapURIRequest.Credentials = new ImageryService.Credentials();
            myMapURIRequest.Credentials.Token = myToken;
            myMapURIRequest.Center = new ImageryService.Location();
            myMapURIRequest.Center.Latitude = 48.04972;
            myMapURIRequest.Center.LatitudeSpecified = true;
            myMapURIRequest.Center.Longitude = 10.87697;
            myMapURIRequest.Center.LongitudeSpecified = true;

            ImageryService.Pushpin[] myPins = new ImageryService.Pushpin[1];
            myPins[0] = new Pushpin();
            myPins[0].IconStyle = "11";
            myPins[0].Label = "CP";
            myPins[0].Location = new Location();
            myPins[0].Location.Latitude = 48.04972;
            myPins[0].Location.LatitudeSpecified = true;
            myPins[0].Location.Longitude = 10.87697;
            myPins[0].Location.LongitudeSpecified = true;
            myMapURIRequest.Pushpins = myPins;

            ImageryService.MapUriOptions myMapURIOptions = new ImageryService.MapUriOptions();
            myMapURIOptions.Style = ImageryService.MapStyle.Road;
            myMapURIOptions.StyleSpecified = true;
            myMapURIOptions.ZoomLevel = 5;
            myMapURIOptions.ZoomLevelSpecified = true;
            myMapURIOptions.ImageSize = new ImageryService.SizeOfint();
            myMapURIOptions.ImageSize.Height = (int)Image1.Height.Value;
            myMapURIOptions.ImageSize.HeightSpecified = true;
            myMapURIOptions.ImageSize.Width = (int)Image1.Width.Value;
            myMapURIOptions.ImageSize.WidthSpecified = true;

            myMapURIRequest.Options = myMapURIOptions;

            ImageryService.ImageryService myImageryService = new ImageryService.ImageryService();

            ImageryService.MapUriResponse myMapURIResponse = myImageryService.GetMapUri(myMapURIRequest);

            string MapURI = myMapURIResponse.Uri;
            Image1.ImageUrl = MapURI;
        }
    }
}

If you are using multiple Pushpins, you can use the MapUriOptions.PreventIconCollision Property to keep the pushpin icons from stacking atop each other and instead placing them on a stick.

Now, I noticed this doesn’t work with all Pushpins, so I had a lonely enough night that I took the time to find out which ones work and which don’t, so there’s a list below. “No,” means PreventIconCollision does not work for the respective Pushpin.IconStyle.

0.    No
1.    Yes (but only because this is 15, doc bug – expect it to be fixed soon)
2.    No
3.    No
4.    No
5.    No
6.    No
7.    No
8.    No
9.    No
10.    No
11.    No
12.    No
13.    Yes
14.    Yes
15.    Yes
16.    Yes
17.    No
18.    No
19.    No
20.    No
21.    No
22.    No
23.    No
24.    No
25.    No
26.    No

Ok, it only works for a few, so use those if you want to use multiple pushpins on a single map. Hopefully, this will help you push pins into your VEWS maps.

CP

Finding Haunted Houses with Virtual Earth

Halloween is BY FAR my favorite holiday, so I find it only appropriate to publish a little something to help spread the holiday fear. A few years ago we published a Halloween Map (aka The Haunted Map), but we’re not doing it this year (and haven’t in 3 years). This year, I’m simply going to show you a very useful feature built into Internet Explorer 7 and the Windows Live Toolbar that allows you to go to any haunted web site, select the address and view the haunted house in Bird’s Eye! The best and most up to date site I found is Haunted House Online powered by Haunt World. Now, going to either one of these sites will definitely put you in the mood to scare and be scared so check them out just for the content alone. But, what about the maps?!?

Okay, so, I’m in Internet Explorer 7 and I have the latest Windows Live Toolbar installed – it’s in beta, but the whole beta suite of the Windows Live Suite (Mail, Movie Maker, Family Safety, Writer, Messenger, Toolbar, Photo Gallery – all free) are absolutely money. Did you know you can set a custom sound (signature sound) that all your friends hear when you log in to messenger? I’m getting off track. 

The site has a map that you can click on – watch the background as the eyes follow your mouse – creepy! You can click on any one of the states on the map to get a resulting list of haunted houses available for you to go scare yourself in. I did a search in Louisiana. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans you know there’s a huge culture of the dead there (and I’m not talking about the fact that it’s the new murder capital of the US). I found The House of Shock in New Orleans. The page includes videos and commentary, but also contact information such as phone number and address. We can select the address with our mouse and see that just by selecting the address, we’ll get a small popup with 3 buttons – 1 for search, 1 for maps and 1 for weather. Clicking the maps button will bring up a preview Virtual Earth map. This is great in the case that you don’t want to leave the web page because the address isn’t in an area where you want to be; but for Halloween, maybe it is!

Now, notice on the map popup there are 3 very useful links – get a full map of the location, get driving directions to this location and get driving directions from this location. Clicking any of these links will take you to Live Search Maps where you can view (or route yourself to) any of the locations on the Haunt World web site. So, even if your favorite web site doesn’t have Bird’s Eye you can still view the locations fairly seamlessly by having the Windows Live Toolbar installed.

I don’t know about you, but The House of Shock in New Orleans location looks WAY SCARY in some industrial truck yard. WTH?!?

Be safe. Be scary. Be scared. Happy Halloween!

CP

Virtual Earth @ PDC Demonstration Applications

As promised during the Virtual Earth session Thursday at the PDC 2008, we are making available all of the demos showed during the session. We've even included some BONUS content as well with demos that we did not get a chance to show at the PDC.

Please note that these demos are released as is with no support. Also be sure to go get yourself a Virtual Earth Developer Evaluation Account when you begin to work with the Virtual Earth Web Service demos. Also, be sure to check out the Virtual Earth Web Services SDK on MSDN for more details on how to develop your applications.

Here is a link to Mark Brown's SkyDrive for the samples. Go get them and start developing!

CP

Virtual Earth and Microsoft’s Single View Platform

There’s a new initiative at Microsoft to bring together different parts of the company under a single umbrella to prove the whole is greater than the sum of all it’s parts. The Public Sector initiative, dubbed “The Single View Platform” brings several different Microsoft products together to form a SUPER geographically-based, data visualization product suite.

A single, geographic view of complex information and data sets across multiple roles, locations, and user interfaces can improve agency communication, collaboration, and decision-making to increase the success of essential initiatives. A solution that puts information in a single geographic context requires:

• Comprehensible visual presentation of data.
• Access to real-time or near real-time information.
• Integration of multiple information sets from disparate sources.
• Sharing information inside and outside the agency, with restricted access controls.
• Interoperability with existing and legacy systems.

The ideal solution should provide cross-domain awareness of threats, activities, programs, and the status of personnel and assets—independent of agency type and location.

With its map-based, geospatial presentation, Microsoft Single View Platform (SVP) provides a geo-spatial representation of an entire data and information landscape. You can deploy Microsoft SVP easily across multiple roles and user interfaces to support faster and better-informed decision-making with timely and effective coordination among all stakeholders.

The products involved include: