Multimap API
Multimap API to turn off
With the replacement of Multimap by Bing Maps, the Multimap API will discontinued on 18 Nov 20111. Any Multimap API users will now have move to the Bing Maps API, if they wish to maintain their involvement with the company.
The Bing Maps AJAX map control now supports Ordnance Survey, Collins Bartholomew
maps, improved performance, mobile support and imagery.
Multimap provide migration guides for the AJAX map control and REST web services.
Other resources include the Bing Maps Developer Resources site, Bing Maps on MSDN, the Bing Community forums and the Bing Maps blog.
Registration of Multimap APIs will stop soon, so if you want to experiment with the procedures covered in the following sections: hurry!
Multimap API compared to Google Maps API
In many ways Google Maps API is easier to use than Multimap API.2 With Google Maps API it's easy to plot a route between multiple points and pull that route direction information. But in some ways Multimap API is easier. For instance, with Google Maps API it is not easy to obtain the latitude and longitude of points on the route. But the Multimap API straightforwardly returns this information.
Code examples in this guide
All the code examples in this online guide are given as working maps. To view the code, you simply open the Page Source from your browser in the usual manner.
Getting started with Multimap API
Getting started with Multimap API is more difficult than with Google Maps. First you need to get the MultiMap API key, and then you need to register every URL that uses a Multimap map. With Google Maps you don't need to do anything.
Once done, though, the "hello world" Multimap API example works right out of the box. The same can't quite be said of the "hello world" Google Maps API example. But, in both cases, the code is simple to get going and you quickly get to see your first map.
For your "hello world" Multimap map, notice:
- The map is not labelled Multimap, it is labelled bing. This reflects the change of name that is happening around now (Nov 2010.)
- The map doesn't have much functionality, you can only move it around with the hand cursor. You can't zoom, change to satellite view, find directions, or do anything useful. The "hello world" Google Map does give you these added functions to start with.
References
1. Important news about the Multimap Open API, 19 Nov 2010, Multimap Blog.
2. MultiMap API ColdFusion Wrapper, 29 Jun 2010, Matt Gifford (www.mattgifford.co.uk)
