I’ve been all about mapping lately! This weekend I purchased Microsoft Streets and Trips /w a GPS locator. Also I’ve been tasked to investigate the Microsoft MapPoint API, A web service that provides maps and direction services. I assume that behind the scenes it’s the same data that feeds both of these products.
Let’s start with Streets and Trips. I’ve got to say that I’m impressed with the functionality. With this application I am able to get the maps and directions I need to get from A to B. That being said – this application has a ugly and cluttered looking UI. This application looks like it was built using MFC and doesn’t use any kind of graphically pleasing icons or advanced navigation elements (from the Office product series). I think that later versions of this application should be built with Windows Presentation Foundation. A user needs to sort through a tremendous amount of information when dealing with mapping, especially if they are using this application in their motor vehicle.
However — Don’t let my rant about the dated looking UI dissuade you from buying this product – Considering the limits of building graphically advanced applications with the desktop graphics API (GDI) on windows XP — they did a good job and it gets the job done. I’ve been spoiled by seeing the next generation vector based graphics API of the upcoming Windows Vista. If the application looks like this in a few years THEN I’ll be upset!
Now let’s get on to the MapPoint API /w Vista. When a developer builds an application using this mapping API with Windows Presentation Foundation – the results look very poor. The bitmap data looks terrible and the text gets distorted. The API needs to output XAML containing the mapping data in vector format. Having vector data would look better and would probably be fasted to pull over the pipe. This will lead to some pretty sweet looking mash-up smart-client/web applications.
Do you want to integrate mapping with your product? Microsoft MapPoint offers a web service that allows any application to find directions and generate dynamic maps – this could be for a PC/PDA or smart phone application. I do offer consulting services – if you want to talk more about MapPoint or integrating Mapping with your application, give me a call! Thanks!
