WinForms and WPF Map Controls: Coordinate Systems, SQL Server Spatial Data and More (Coming soon in v14.2)

I wanted to talk a bit more about maps! I’ve already talked a bit about the mini maps. In this post I wanted to show you some more map goodness coming in our 14.2 release.

Cartesian Map for WinForms

Ever wanted to visualize something other than, well, a map of the earth? In this release you can literally create a map of anything and use it as a visualization. How amazing is that?! With the addition of Cartesian Maps comes the ability to add any vector data with its own units. Currently the map control supports Centimeters, Feet, Furlongs, Inches, Kilometers, Meters, Miles, Millimeters, Nautical miles, and Yards with the ability to even add your own custom measures.

In this example we’ve visualized an entire hotel floor. Currently we’ve implemented the Cartesian Coordinate System for WinForms.

SQL Geometry Support

Some store their map data using SQL Geometry. In this release we have added support to this type of data source for WinForms:

SqlGeometryDataAdapter adapter = new SqlGeometryDataAdapter() {
    ConnectionString = "YOUR_CONNECTION_STRING",
    SqlText = "YOUR_SQL_TEXT",
    SpatialDataMember = "YOUR_DATA_MEMBER"
};
vectorLayer.Data = adapter;

A word about WPF support for both Cartesian Coordinates and SQL Geometry: we are still working on having full support. Currently in WPF we have full support for Geographic data (whether from SQL Geography Data or some other source) and are working towards having full Cartesian support sometime in the future. We do have the CartesianCoordinateSystem which can be used in WPF to load Geometry data and convert it to Geography data.

New Map Projections

Sometimes a flat map just doesn't cut it:

Starting in 14.2 you can use the following projections in both WinForms and WPF: Equidistant, Lambert Cylindrical Equal Area, Braun Stereographic, Kavrayskiy, and Sinusoidal.

Why is this useful you ask? Sometimes a map answers the pertinent data questions better when projected into a new spatial representation. Insights you would not have gleaned from a tradition flat map (which is also a projection, mind you) become more apparent when projected into new spaces.

WPF Map Analytics

Previously we added a number of analytics features to our map control for WinForms. In this release we are adding the same features to our WPF Map Control as well:

Map Printing

Our powerful printing system has been expanded to allow for directly exporting maps to a report:

This enables your users to find the exact portion of the map they wish to see and memorialize it forever in the form of a hard paper copy.

Final Thoughts

Overall these are fantastic addition to our growing staple of analysis tools. I am proud of the work we are doing to help your customers glean the pertinent information from their data, thus allowing them to make the best decisions available.

As always, if there are any comments and/or questions, feel free to get a hold of me!

Seth Juarez
Email: sethj@devexpress.com
Twitter: @SethJuarez

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