ISC Releases MapDotNet UX Beta
September 10, 2008 2 Comments
ISC keeps pushing the .NET web mapping front and has released MapDotNET UX Beta. MapDotNet UX Server has WCF-based web services and a WPF map and tile renderer. MapDotNet UX Studio includes advanced map design (XAML editing), support for shapefiles, SQL Server 2008 as well as ArcSDE ArcGIS Server and PostGIS and tile cache management.
ISC has some demos available to show the new MapDotNet UX in action. The beta is closed at this time, but interested developers who want to showcase WPF and Silverlight mapping are encouraged to apply. Another item to note is that the MapDotNet UX Studio will be free. ISC describes UX Studio this way:
It (MapDotNet UX Studio) was built with the WPF map control and allows developers/cartographers to develop their map configuration file (the .mapx), create/manage tile caches, perform data import/export to all of the support data types (SQL 08, SDE, PostGIS and Shapefile) and create starter Silverlight & WPF apps.
Of course their web services will still be licensed as normal. Some screenshots of UX Studio are below and I have to say they remind me of another product. 
Click to view large image of MapDotNet UX Studio
Click to view large image of MapDotNet UX Studio
About James Fee
It would be nice if the demo’s worked. All it kept asking me to do was intall Silverlight which I’ve already got installed. I did run through the install again just to make sure, then just got ‘error on page’
I shut the browser down, restarted and clicked on the demo URL and it asked me to install Silverlight!!
That is a fair point and one I’ve made to anyone who writes web apps that require a download and install. Flash, Java, Virtual Earth 3D, Google Earth API all require updates and installation of software.
Of course if you want a richer (yikes I said I wouldn’t use that buzz word anymore) application, you sometimes need to go to that level.