Feb 4

Written by: Renegade
Thursday, February 04, 2010 9:29 AM

So it looks like Microsoft will be standing behing Bing Maps from the looks of it.

I got a CodeProject newsletter about the LBS Challenge for developers that write map/GPS-enabled software, and lo and belold, MS is touting Bing Maps there. (There are 10 million dollars in prize money for the LBS Challenge too!)

I'd previously decided to forget about Bing Maps as MS abandoned their last map effort for SharePoint, but maybe there's some promise there. Google seems to be doing very well, and they've got a somewhat better history than MS of not dropping things. As a developer, it's important to invest your time and energy in technologies that will be around tomorrow. Otherwise, you end up getting caught with your pants down. I've learned that lesson the hard way. The VERY hard way. Several times... I feel sorry for Apple developers as Apple drops things even moreso than Microsoft.

I suppose that means that I'll need to look into Bing Maps a bit closer again. MS will certainly have nice, easy ways to integrate with .NET, so that's a real incentive. But the Google API seems to be pretty easy as well... Decisions, decisions!

We'll see though. I need to get into mobile development very soon for a few things. So, this is a pressing issue at the moment. I just dread doing all the research and testing. It always takes forever to figure out which platform to go with as there are so many things to consider.

Cheers,

Ryan

 

Copyright ©2010 Ryan Smyth

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