MapForums

The Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP is designed to work with Silverlight 2.  However, since Silverlight 3 is reverse-compatible with Silverlight 2, you can use it with Silverlight 3 Beta projects also.

At MIX09, Joe Stegman demonstrated a nice Perspective 3D demo where he rotated a DataGrid in the X, Y, and Z directions using the new PlaneProjection offered in Silverlight 3.  I thought it would be fun to check it out and see how it works with the Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP.  Check out the results! If you don’t have Silverlight 3 installed, you will be prompted to upgrade to Silverlight 3 Beta.

Here is a link to the running application and some screenshots:

Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control CTP / Silverlight 3 Crazy Spinning Map Sample

I made a couple of modifications to Joe Stegman’s original demo. I replaced the DataGrid with a Map and made it take up space of the whole Grid. I also updated the controls to have a Play “>” and Pause “||” button to start animations.

Click and Slide the Rotation X slider to manually control the rotation along the X axis. 

Click and Slide the Rotation Y slider to manually control the rotation along the Y axis. 

Click and Slide the Rotation Z slider to manually control the rotation along the X axis. 

Click and slide the Zoom Level slider to manually control the zoom level. You can also manually use keyboard and mouse input and the navigation control on the Map to control its view.

Click on the Play “>” button by each slider to kick off a repeated animation for that axis. Click on the “>” button for each axis to create a crazy rotation animation. Click on Pause “||” button to stop the animation for each axis.  You can also click the “Reset” button at any time to reset the Map back to its original state. With different combinations you can create some crazy effects with zooming spinning maps! 

I thought this was an interesting display of some of the amazing capabilities of Silverlight 3 Beta with the Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control. Have fun!

Keith Kinnan

Software Development Lead, Virtual Earth Platform