Custom zoomable images using Bing maps

Question

I want to use the Bing map WPF control and I'm wondering if it is possible to set our own "image source". Basically I'd like to use the control to provide deep zoom functionality for various images that would be loaded by my application.

I know that it's possible with Google maps (as shown here: http://blog.mikecouturier.com/2011/07/create-zoomable-images-using-google.html#maps_code_tilesgen) but I was wondering we can do something similar with Bing maps?

P.S.: I would prefer using Bing because Microsoft provides a native WPF control, something that Google doesn't.

Answer 1

In order to add a custom map (or image) tile provider you would have to implement a TileSource and override its GetUri method to provide the URI of an image tile.

See Adding Tile Overlays to the Map for the details. The code sample there is not that great, since some things they do in code could better be done in XAML, but it is a starting point.

Note however that even if you don't use Bing Maps content, using the WPF control forces you to use a Bing Maps API Key. The control authenticates your key at the Bing Maps service provider, which will require an internet connection. Hence your image display application won't run in an offline environment, or to be more precise, it will run but display an ugly error message in the center of the control area.

Answer 2

You certainly can and it's incredibly easy to do in Bing Maps. Microsoft has developed a tool called MapCruncher that cuts a supplied image into tiles with the structure expected by Bing Maps. This is really important because, although Bing Maps and Google share the same tile structure, Bing Maps uses something called a quadkey to define each tile (meaning, the z-x-y of the tile).

Note: it's also possible to load tiles made for Google Maps in Bing Maps. You just need to tweak the tile source.

Anyway, better shown than said.

Here's a really detailed tutorial by the Microsoft Research team on using MapCruncher:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/mapcruncher/tutorial/version3.0docs/index.htm