Microsoft has announced the official release of the Bing Maps Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Control v1. While Silverlight and Ajax versions of the Bing Maps control have existed for quite a while, this is the first time that Bing mapping capabilities are available via a native WPF control.
The control supports the map styles Road, Aerial, and Hybrid, exactly as in the Silverlight version. Pins, lines, and shapes can be placed on the map using latitude/longitude coordinates. Pan and zoom capabilities are also included in the control. Microsoft notes that some of the usual Bing Maps features are omitted, such as the default pushpin and navigation; other defaults like the scale bar or even the base map tiles themselves can be turned off in code as well.
One of the most noteworthy features in this release is support for Microsoft Surface v2, which means that maps can be touch-enabled via Pixel Sense. According to Luis Cabrera, Platform Program Manager for Microsoft Surface, the control is designed to work with multi-touch:
The map uses WPF4’s manipulation events for scaling, translation and rotation – providing a consistent familiar experience for Microsoft Surface users. The WPF control supports full rotation and inertia with options to turn both off. Plus, infinite scroll maps, touch to lat/lon to pixel conversions (think touch to add a pushpin) and the ability to plug into the Bing Maps REST API for geocoding and routing or the Bing API for search.
To see the Bing Maps WPF Control in use, visit ElegantCode.com’s earthquake mapping demo. The control is available from the Microsoft Download Center.