Displaying 3D Maps
The Virtual Earth Map Control includes the ability to display a three-dimensional view of the world. It enables you to incorporate the same 3D experience in Live Search Maps Web site into your own Web sites.
Including the 3D maps in your existing sites requires very little additional effort because the three-dimensional map functionality is built in to the same map control as the standard two-dimensional maps. But because of the complexity 3D maps software must be installed on the client computer and client computer also requires these, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, or Microsoft Windows Vista.
Along with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8, including 64-bit versions, or Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or 3.0. Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0, 250 MB, or more of hard disk space, a 1.0 GHz processor (2.8 GHz or faster recommended), 256 MB of system memory (1 GB recommended), 32-MB video card (256 MB recommended) that supports Microsoft DirectX 9, with 3D hardware acceleration enabled, a high-speed or broadband Internet connection, and the software is called the Virtual Earth 3D.
Verifying the requirements: To make sure the map performs appropriately you should provide an appropriate user interface to verify that the Virtual Earth 3D control is installed. To do this you can use the VEMap.AttachEvent Method to attach the VEMap.onmodenotavailable Event to your VEMap Class object. If the software is not yet installed on the computer the program should trigger this and then help the client through installation of the software.
Disabling 3D maps: Displaying 3D maps require additional resources, and hence sometimes you may want to restrict the users from switching to the 3D mode. To achieve this set the showSwitch parameter of the VEMap.LoadMap Method to false.
Tracking Your Virtual Earth Usage: The Virtual Earth Map Control allows users to track their map control usage. Using Tokens for Identification: In order to record the map control usage the Virtual Earth Servers need to identify every request sent by you. For this purpose, the Virtual Earth Token Service is provided. This service generates a unique string called a token, which identifies you. Use the VEMap.SetClientToken Method to set this token before the map control is loaded. Thereafter all the requests to the Virtual Earth servers are identified as requests made by you. It’s important to note that you must be a Virtual Earth customer to use the Virtual Earth Token Service.
Tracking Transactions: All the requests that are sent to Virtual Earth Server after a valid token is set are tracked. Here’s a list of virtual earth methods that make requests.
Any time new map tiles are requested from Virtual Earth. These are VEMap.LoadMap, VEMap.ZoomIn, VEMap.ZoomOut, VEMap.Pan, VEMap.SetMapView. And there are many more that make the map move.
Any time makes a where-only request for a find result. This includes requests from the VEMap.Find method as well as the VEMap.GetDirections method. Requests made using the VEMap.FindLocations method. And requests made using the VEMap.GetDirections method.
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