After battling for some time with slow performance of MapPoint ActiveX (especially NewMap() and AddPushpin() methods), I have switched to using MapPoint.Application object instead.

Although it is still not the fastest, the whole process of map rendering / adding pushpins / returning map image has become about 2-3 times faster.

Figures! I would assume exactly the opposite due to an inter-process communication overhead, which suppose to be less in case with ActiveX (there is still Interop).

Has anyone else seen this pattern, or is it solely my experience?

Alex O.