Bing Maps: Data Visualization for Business Decisions Geospatial data visualization adds new perspective to business information. By adding a location element to line-of-business (LOB) applications, organizations can view businesscritical data in the context of time and place. Deeper insight empowers better decisions. BingTM Maps, the geospatial data visualization platform from Microsoft, offers an integrated set of services with quality mapping and the most diverse imagery portfolio on the market. The platform was designed for rapid development and low up-front investment, so you and your customers can quickly benefit and see a return on investment. The market and your business opportunity Approximately 80 percent of business data has a location component, and geospatial data visualization is a powerful way to access and analyze information. Business intelligence and asset or process management are enhanced by location-based visualization, and solutions integrating Bing Maps can be deployed broadly across an organization. The IDC Worldwide Spatial Information Management (SIM) Forecast 2006 2013 indicates the SIM software market grew 6 percent during 2007 2008 to $3.2 billion in revenue. The five-year forecast anticipates 6.5 percent annual growth, with a particularly strong market for geospatial applications in business intelligence, supply chain management, customer relationship management, and fleet and asset management. Bing Maps enables: Data visualization for easy analysis. Real-time, locationbased context. Aggregate as well as detailed views. Seamless experience across devices. Integration of data across sources.
Advantages of the Bing Maps platform Bing Maps helps our customers gain better insight, get better visualization of their data, and helps them make better decisions. Benton Belcher MapDotNet Business Developer Bing Maps partners are creating a wide array of LOB applications with geospatial data visualization. Find information about their applications at the Bing Maps portal, www.microsoft. com/maps. LOB applications that benefit from geospatial data visualization include: Sales performance Inform sales and marketing decisions with applications that analyze spend by location, compare store locations with competitors, or identify underserved markets. Business opportunity analysis Provide in-depth information on demographics, infrastructure, and other relevant data to inform site selection decisions. Supply chain management Visualize the production and distribution line from suppliers through manufacturing plants, and on to distributors and then customers, and visualize factors that may affect delivery schedules. Fleet and asset management View widely dispersed assets at once and monitor fleet position in real time to optimize routing and vehicle use, give precise directions, and prepare locations for deliveries. Emergency preparedness and response Monitor the development of critical needs and track the availability of assets from multiple sources. Risk analysis and claims processing Monitor, analyze, and control risk and improve process efficiency to reduce costs. Customer and constituent portals Show constituent information and reports online to view and analyze activity by area and enable constituents to track the status of their requests. Microsoft is committed to providing, supporting, and continually innovating this enterprise-level geospatial data visualization platform. Significant investment during the last 10 years has led to the evolution of Bing Maps the richest platform available today with a broad array of high-quality imagery and development tools offering easy integration with Microsoft products like Microsoft SharePoint Server, Microsoft SQL Server database software, and the Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in.
Bing Maps SOAP Web Service Enables you to integrate maps and imagery, driving directions, distance calculations, and other location intelligence into your applications using a set of programmable SOAP services. We needed a system that would tell us what was going on with marine transportation anywhere around the world in real time. Louis Effa MarView Program Manager, U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration Rich development environment Bing Maps is an easy platform for partners to build upon, and partners receive free access to evaluate the platform and build proof-of-concepts. Coupled with flexible licensing options, the rich production environment and resources enable rapid development, deployment, and return on investment for you and your customers. The Bing Maps platform uses familiar tools, and the flexible platform supports industry standards as well as Microsoft innovations. Bing Maps application programming interfaces (APIs), tools, training, software development kits (SDKs), and support all available from the Bing Maps portal help you get up to speed fast, produce quick proof-of-concepts, and easily customize applications for each customer s needs: Bing Maps Silverlight Control Enables an immersive mapping experience incorporating the latest location and local search features and your managed.net code written using the Microsoft Visual Studio development system and Microsoft Expression Blend design software. New support for Silverlight GPU acceleration delivers improved pan-and-zoom performance to the Silverlight Map Control. Bing Maps AJAX Control Enables rich mapping and enterprise-class application development with an intuitive JavaScript programming model. An interactive SDK offers task-based demonstrations of features. AJAX Map Control v6.3 is engineered to provide simpler, more efficient code and includes a new CORE mode feature that improves side-by-side map control load performance by as much as 41 percent.* New Bing Maps REST Web Service Designed for coding simplicity, new REST services give you access to static maps, routing, enhanced geocoding, and batch geocoding with rooftop precision where available. Bing Spatial Data Services API Includes the Geocode Dataflow API, which you can use to geocode and reversegeocode lists of special data. New Bing Map App SDK Developers can now create their own map applications built on top of Bing Maps and hosted on Bing.com to produce dynamic mash-ups and help people complete tasks faster. We combine the power of Bing Maps, Silverlight, and SharePoint to deliver rich business applications. Bing Maps and Silverlight are becoming the preferred visualization technology, and it s opening up a lot of business opportunity for us. Aaron Sloman SpeakTECH Chief Executive Officer Flexibility and integration Geospatial data solutions built on the Bing Maps platform integrate with third-party software as well as widely used Microsoft solutions. Trusted technology Drive pull-through revenue for products and technologies you already invest in, including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP. New innovations Bring the web to life using the new Silverlight Map Control to create immersive, online mapping experiences. Existing infrastructure Continue to work with existing Microsoft infrastructure and software, so you can innovate with less risk and little investment. Flexible platform Innovate without worrying about vendor lock-in using an extensible platform that supports industry standards such as SOAP and REST. *Based on internal Microsoft testing. Results may vary.
Mapping and imagery Bing Maps has the most diverse imagery portfolio of any geospatial data visualization platform. Content comes only from premium, authoritative suppliers and imagery is updated approximately every two weeks. Satellite Zoom from global views to local detail in seconds with base imagery for broad breadth coverage. Aerial Look at the world with high-resolution imagery at times so precise that you can see the individual slats on a railroad. Bird s eye View real-world locations for insight into what it s like there. Zoom and pan smoothly within bird s eye and across imagery types for a truly immersive viewing experience. StreetSide TM Travel down to the street level to explore locations almost as if you were standing there in person. Photosynth Transform digital photos into a panoramic experience that displays the big picture, as well as its details. Best practices in geospatial data visualization are to go with technology like Bing Maps that s based in the cloud, because organizations don t want to have to maintain their own mapping content. We chose to use Bing Maps for three reasons: Quality of mapping content, performance, and its enterprise API, so we can offer best-in-class mapping in solutions for our customers. Mark Morrison IDV Solutions Chief Executive Officer Bird s eye Satellite Aerial StreetSide Photosynth
Features and functionality Capabilities that set apart applications built using the Bing Maps platform include the ability to draw real-time data feeds from any number of disparate sources whether behind the firewall or in the cloud and display the information in aggregate or detailed views. Bing Maps also supports scalable, reliable, accessible cloud computing applications. Rich features and functionality enable partners to deliver immersive user experiences ideal for each customer and business or solution requirement. Mobile devices Imagery optimized for mobile devices is supported in the Bing Maps Web Services. Rooftop geocodes Expanded to 71 million unique addresses in the U.S. alone. Geocoders Geocoding, reverse geocoding, and international geocoding for the greatest precision. Localization Get localized driving or walking directions in 15 languages. Near-matching Find locations using alternative and similar spellings. Pushpin clustering Aggregates multiple overlapping points. Traffic reports Color-coded traffic flow visuals can be layered above the roads. GeoRSS feeds Enables the import of shapes, pushpins, and polylines. Enterprise focus Microsoft understands the kind of support enterprise customers and partners need. Bing Maps is a product that has the feature capabilities and reliability that enterprise requires, and the developer tools that enable partners to quickly develop and deploy powerful applications that incorporate Bing Maps. Grow through innovation Backed by a competitive service-level agreement (SLA), comprehensive support, and flexible licensing, businesses can be confident that Bing Maps is professional and reliable. Bing Maps can help grow your business by providing an innovative platform with the tools and options you need. Rich development tools Exploit rich development offerings including the Bing Maps online interactive SDK, professional support documentation, online forums, and Bing Maps Web Services. Unparalleled support options The Microsoft business is centered on helping companies meet their enterprise needs and provide the best location services for their customers. Long-term commitment Microsoft has been providing mapping solutions for more than 10 years and has made impressive investments in imagery, geospatial data, and new technologies to support its mapping and imagery capabilities. The large customer organizations we cater to are swimming in data, and they need effective ways to visualize that data, gain insight from that data, and there s no better way than to put that information in the context of a map. Mark Morrison IDV Solutions Chief Executive Officer Microsoft is committed to the success of its Bing Maps partners, making a significant investment in innovation, developer tools and training, and partner marketing support and promotion. Win new business. Sell more products. Offer more services. Visit the Bing Maps portal at: http://www.microsoft.com/maps/