See Full Details of the New Version 4.5 Releases

Over the last six months we've been working on the Map Suite upgrades, new features and refinements that our developer community has asked us for. That all culminates in this month's introduction of Map Suite 4.5, now available for download in both evaluation and licensed versions.

Updating Your Copy of Map Suite

Before we look at what's new, here's how to upgrade your copy of Map Suite to version 4.5:

• To update your evaluation edition, simply download and install a new copy from our Evaluation Downloads page.
• If you've purchased Map Suite, login to the Customer Portal to download an updated full version.

Don't forget that you can install Map Suite 4.5 alongside your previous version and associate your projects with either one.

Highlights of Map Suite 4.5

Here are some of the biggest new features that we've added to the Map Suite core, which means that all Map Suite controls will have access to them.

• Added support for .NET 3.5 Client Profile
• Added support for OpenStreetMap
• Added ClusterPointStyle
• Enhanced performance of GdiPlusRasterLayer
• Added support for Visual Studio 2010 sample code

On top of that, individual Map Suite products get their own enhancements like:

• Added MarkerOverlay to Desktop Edition
• Improved Bing Maps and added new properties to WPF Desktop Edition
• Added ClusterMarkerStyle to Web Edition
• Upgraded to Microsoft Silverlight 4.0
• Added TiledWmsLayer, VB sample code and much more to WMS Server Edition
• Added Visual Studio 2010 sample applications to all products

For a more detailed list of additions and changes in Map Suite 4.5, check out our latest blog entry or the official product change logs in the ThinkGeo Wiki. (If you're used to visiting our News and Announcements discussion forum for change logs, please take note that they have been relocated to the wiki.)

Introducing OpenStreetMap Support

Among the additions in Map Suite 4.5 that we're most proud of is the integrated OpenStreetMap support. As you might be aware, OpenStreetMap creates and provides free "crowdsourced" geographic data with a minimum of legal or technical restrictions. All Map Suite controls can now display maps from OpenStreetMap using a simple overlay, just as you would display a Google Map or ThinkGeo World Map Kit map.

To make this even easier, we've put together a code sample that demonstrates how to use OpenStreetMap. You'll also find it as the Featured Project in this month's Code Samples Roundup article.

Have Questions or Feedback?

Many thanks to the developers in our Map Suite community forums who have helped us test, debug and improve Map Suite for the 4.5 release. Should you have any questions or suggestions for future improvements, let our developers know by posting your comments on this blog entry, or in the support forum for your particular Map Suite product.

We're already hard at work on Map Suite 5.0, the next major refresh of Map Suite that's scheduled for release in the spring. If you have ideas or suggestions for features you'd like to see included, feel free to drop us a line or post them in the Map Suite Discussion Forums!

Follow Us on Twitter for Instant Notification

You may have noticed that the Map Suite Routing Extension was not included amongst this month's milestone refresh to version 4.5. Although there has been a temporary delay, Map Suite Routing 4.5 is on track to be released in the coming weeks with a variety of enhancements to its API. For the latest news, follow our Twitter feed or our Developer Blog.

Visit the ThinkGeo Wiki for all Code Samples

We've posted a variety of new code samples to the ThinkGeo Wiki this month, many of which showcase new features introduced in Map Suite 4.5. Foremost among them is the OpenStreetMap sample, which demonstrates how easy it is to display maps from OpenStreetMap in your Map Suite projects. Check out all of the new code samples below.

Want to know as soon as a new Code Sample is posted? Follow us on Twitter and get the scoop as soon as a new sample arrives.

This Month's Featured Project
	OpenStreetMap Sample OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to create free geographic data for the entire world. It can be thought of the "Free Wiki World Map". Now, it is natively supported in Map Suite 4.5. This Desktop Edition sample shows how easy it is to display data from OpenStreetMap using your Map Suite map control.

Restricting Extent In this sample, we show some techniques for restricting users from navigating beyond a certain area of the map. For this type of behavior, two types of restricted extents are combined: one for panning and another larger one for zooming out.

Multiple Dot Density Styles In this sample, we'll look in a little more detail at the DotDensityStyle. Specifically, we'll show you how you can combine different DotDensityStyles on one FeatureLayer using different columns. Demographic data are usually well suited for this type of style.

Select Vertices The purpose of this sample is to help you understand the intricacies of inheriting from EditInteractiveOverlay when implementing your own editing logic. Here we'll show you how to keep control points selected even after a dragging operation is finished.

Drag Selected Vertices as a Group With EditInteractiveOverlay, we know how to drag a feature such as a polygon. Here we go a little further and show how to create an inherited class from EditInteractiveOverlay to select vertices and drag them as a group.

A note about licensing: All code samples posted to the ThinkGeo Wiki are offered under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL), an open source initiative that gives you the flexibility to re-use the code in your own packages, including commercial projects.

Try Map Suite Before You Buy

Now you can download free evaluation demos of our most popular products. They are fully-functional and contain no locked or inaccessible features. Try Map Suite free for 60 days and see how easy GIS development can be!