CODEWITHSUNDEEP
silverlight
brian chandley
brian chandley

Reputation: 1276

Looking for a simple Silverlight map component

I am looking for a light-weight map component that displays a map of the US and allows users to click on a State and see information pertaining to that state. The data I want to display is in my database. I just need to know what state was selected so I can display the detail. This is something I am doing to get familiar with Silverlight.

All the searches for Silverlight/ Maps I have done so far have pointed me at solutions that are far more complicated than I need. My perception is that using Bing Maps to do this simple task would a waste of the features provide by Bing.

Anyone know of such a Component? Am I wrong that Bing Maps is not the right tool for the job?

TIA!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1912

Answers (3)

iCollect.it Ltd
iCollect.it Ltd

Reputation: 93571

If you have access to Expression Studio (specifically Expression Design), creating maps as vector based images is quite easy. Poly-paths in Xaml are also relatively efficient to store and serve up compared to images.

You import a map as a background image and use the pen tool to dot-to-dot trace around the country. Combine all those path segments into a single path. Then create a separate poly-path for each state (close them to allow for a fill).

It will take a few hours to build all this (I know having done this for a world map country selector... took 4-5 hours solid for the one polygon styled below):

enter image description here

By having each state represented by a filled polygon-path highlighting (by changing the fill colour) is trivial on mouse-enter/mouse-leave events.

If you want stylistic map, remove the image, otherwise use transparency on the state polygons to show the map through the roll-overs.

Update:

And if you get yourself a graphic tablet and pen this sort of point-to-point work is about 5 times faster than with a mouse!

Upvotes: 4

Garett
Garett

Reputation: 16828

I'm not sure if you've already come across this, but it seems you can also use the control with custom tile sources. Here are a few resources.

http://www.cadmaps.com/gisblog/?p=54

http://developers.de/blogs/damir_dobric/archive/2009/11/16/implementing-custom-map-in-silverlight-map-control.aspx

http://labs.mandogroup.com/skinning-the-silverlight-bing-maps-control/

Custom Rendering in Bing Silverlight Control

Upvotes: 1

thomasmartinsen
thomasmartinsen

Reputation: 1993

The interaction with Bing Maps in Silverlight is really strong and provide you with easy communication between the map and your data. I would give Bing Maps a try.

Upvotes: 1

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