A couple of weeks ago a client asked for a proof of concept map that would take contact data from Microsoft Active Directory and display the home location and relevant information about those employees on Google Maps. We had done some mapping visualization in Tableau and there are a couple of previous posts on this site, but I decided to check out the latest version of Bing Maps. Visually Bing Maps V7 are stunningly beautiful. So before architecting the above solution for our client I decided to map out a simple, and at the same time, somewhat complex map application using Bing, SQL 2012, PHP, JSON, and Photosynth.
What was interesting in beginning this Proof of Concept was that there was a Virtual Earth Integration Kit for PHPpackage available out on Codeplex. The only downfall was that the integration kit was written for Bing Maps API V6.3. Version 7 of the Bing Maps API is quite different. Borrowing heavily from the following 2 articles:
- http://jkebeck.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/bing-maps-ajax-control-version-7-adding-vector-data/
- http://www.garzilla.net/vemaps/Add-Push-Pins-via-JSON-and-Web-Services-with-Bing-Maps-7.aspx
as well as the Interactive SDK: http://www.bingmapsportal.com/isdk/ajaxv7#CreateMap1 we were able to put together a pretty nice visualization. The coolest part of the whole thing is the ability to clearly see each of the stadiums up close and personal when zooming in, as well as, inside views brought together from a Microsoft Application called Photosynth: http://photosynth.net/.
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