Introduction

In this article we will use the Bing Geocode service to find the current location and display it on the map. This article will demonstrate all the things required to display the Bing map on your view in ASP.Net MVC application. In our application we need to implement the location search service; for this kind of task we can implement the Bing Geocode service. So let's start step-by-step.

Step 1:

Before starting our work we need an API key, which you can create here. Just login with your Windows Live id and password and create your own API key.

Step 2:

After you have your API key, add the service references to the application to the given addresses and provide the namespace as given below.

  1. Geocode Service:

    NameSpace : GeocodeServices
    Address: http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/geocodeservice/geocodeservice.svc?wsdl

  2. Imagery Service:

    NameSpace: ImageryServices
    Address: http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc?wsdl

Step 3:

After adding the service references, now import these namespaces to your controller like below.

using GeoCodeMVC.GeocodeService;
using GeoCodeMVC.ImageryService;

Step 4:

Next paste these methods into your controller, which will call the GeocodeService and ImageryService and return the address of the image to us and we will use this address and display the image on our view.

private GeocodeService.Location GeocodeAddress(string address)
{
GeocodeRequest geocodeRequest = new GeocodeRequest();
// Set the credentials using a valid Bing Maps Key
 geocodeRequest.Credentials = new GeocodeService.Credentials();
geocodeRequest.Credentials.ApplicationId = "YourAPIKEY";
// Set the full address query
 geocodeRequest.Query = address;

// Set the options to only return high confidence results
ConfidenceFilter[] filters = new ConfidenceFilter[1];
filters[0] = new ConfidenceFilter();
filters[0].MinimumConfidence = GeocodeService.Confidence.High;
GeocodeOptions geocodeOptions = new GeocodeOptions();
geocodeOptions.Filters = filters;
geocodeRequest.Options = geocodeOptions;
// Make the geocode request
 GeocodeServiceClient geocodeService = new GeocodeServiceClient("BasicHttpBinding_IGeocodeService");
GeocodeResponse geocodeResponse = geocodeService.Geocode(geocodeRequest);

if (geocodeResponse.Results.Length > 0)
if (geocodeResponse.Results[0].Locations.Length > 0)
return geocodeResponse.Results[0].Locations[0];
return null;
}

private string GetMapUri(double latitude, double longitude, int zoom, string mapStyle, int width, int height)
{
ImageryService.Pushpin[] pins = new ImageryService.Pushpin[1];
ImageryService.Pushpin pushpin = new ImageryService.Pushpin();
pushpin.Location = new ImageryService.Location();
pushpin.Location.Latitude = latitude;
pushpin.Location.Longitude = longitude;
pushpin.IconStyle = "2";
pins[0] = pushpin;
MapUriRequest mapUriRequest = new MapUriRequest();
// Set credentials using a valid Bing Maps Key
 mapUriRequest.Credentials = new ImageryService.Credentials();
mapUriRequest.Credentials.ApplicationId = " YourAPIKEY ";

// Set the location of the requested image
 mapUriRequest.Pushpins = pins;
// Set the map style and zoom level
 MapUriOptions mapUriOptions = new MapUriOptions();
//mapUriOptions.ZoomLevel = 17;
 switch (mapStyle.ToUpper())
{
case "HYBRID":
mapUriOptions.Style = ImageryService.MapStyle.AerialWithLabels;
break;
case "ROAD":
mapUriOptions.Style = ImageryService.MapStyle.Road;
break;
case "AERIAL":
mapUriOptions.Style = ImageryService.MapStyle.Aerial;
break;
default:
mapUriOptions.Style = ImageryService.MapStyle.Road;
break;
}

mapUriOptions.ZoomLevel = 10;
// Set the size of the requested image to match the size of the image control
 mapUriOptions.ImageSize = new ImageryService.SizeOfint();
mapUriOptions.ImageSize.Height = height;
mapUriOptions.ImageSize.Width = width;
mapUriRequest.Options = mapUriOptions;

ImageryServiceClient imageryService = new ImageryServiceClient("BasicHttpBinding_IImageryService");
MapUriResponse mapUriResponse = imageryService.GetMapUri(mapUriRequest);

return mapUriResponse.Uri;
}
private string MapAddress(string address, int zoom, string mapStyle, int width, int height)
{
GeocodeService.Location latlong = GeocodeAddress(address);
double latitude = latlong.Latitude;
double longitude = latlong.Longitude;
return GetMapUri(latitude, longitude, zoom, mapStyle, width, height);
}

Step 5:

In your Index action, call the MapAddress method by passing the address and other parameter where mapstyle you can pass as ROAD, AERIAL and HYBRID and receive the URL in a string or store it in ViewBag using this ViewBag we will show in our view.

public ActionResult Index()
{
ViewBag.MapUrl = MapAddress("Hyderabad,Andhra Pradesh,India", 17, "ROAD", 240, 320);
return View();
}

Step 6:

Now on your view, keep the image control of the HTML and pass the src as ViewBag variable like below.

<input type="image" src="@ViewBag.MapUrl" />

Step 7:

Now run the application and see the given address on Bing map.

Conclusion

In this way we can use the Bing Geocode and Imagery service to display a map on our ASP.Net MVC application. Next we will see how to generate routes and direction services of Bing.