Customize Maptitude

Application Development Platform

Maptitude provides a powerful SDK with a .NET Extension API for geospatial application development and deployment. The Geographic Information System Developer's Kit (GISDK™) allows you to customize and leverage the power of Maptitude in your own applications and gives you all the programming tools that you need to add GIS functions, mapping and geographic analysis capabilities to Windows desktop applications.

The GISDK includes more than 850 GIS functions which can be called from Windows applications written in C# or any other .NET language, R, and Python.

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The Caliper Script code is stored in resource files that you can edit with your favorite text editor. With GISDK you can:

  • Open geographic files in many GIS formats
  • Create maps in many different geographic projections
  • Geocode street addresses using your licensed country data packages
  • Geocode tables of street addresses
  • Reverse geocode: obtaining information about all the map layers for an input geographic coordinate
  • Select (filter) map features near a geographic coordinate by circle, by shape, or by query
  • Calculate the directions between geographic coordinates by minimizing the travel time 

The GISDK also includes its own scripting environment with an immediate execution toolbox, a debugger, and a compiler. A complete help system for the GISDK is available in the Maptitude Learning Portal.

You can extend Maptitude via the GISDK scripting environment or any .NET languages, especially C#. See the Maptitude Learning Portal for more information on:

Add-Ins:

Add-ins are macros or dialog boxes that are launched within Maptitude. You can create add-ins to provide end-users with easier access to existing software functions; to add new capabilities to the GIS engine; or to create hooks to your own applications. Add-ins can be freely distributed to any Maptitude user without restriction.

The simplest add-ins are macros that run when they are selected by the user. A sophisticated add-in can display dialog boxes that let the user choose the settings or options to use when the macro is executed. The most flexible and powerful add-ins are custom toolboxes that provide users with push-button access to tools that you have programmed. These toolboxes look like the standard toolboxes used in all Windows applications.

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Custom Applications:

GISDK lets you create a mapping application program with a custom user interface. You design the menus, toolbars, toolboxes and dialog boxes, and program the application to respond to user actions in any way you want.

You can organize and structure your custom applications to appeal to a particular audience. You can create applications that are dynamic and that adapt to the capabilities and authorization level of the user.

Custom applications are executed like other Windows programs. Add your own program icon to any program group and double click to launch your application.

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Extending Maptitude in .NET

We have just updated the .NET APIs to allow developers to migrate MapPoint desktop applications and add-ons to Maptitude.

Interactive maps generated by Maptitude, the popular Windows mapping technology, are crucial for businesses in a number of fields, including real estate, package delivery, and healthcare. In a word, Maptitude provides businesses with "location." Specifically, it provides an integrated set of products, and services to enable a business to track the precise location of remote assets, thereby reducing operational costs and improving productivity. Whether the asset is a truck, a taxi, or even a field rep, Maptitude can tell you exactly where it is at any time.

The .NET classes included with Maptitude allow you to access the GISDK environment from a Windows desktop application (Windows Forms) written in any .NET language. Now it is easier than before to add all of the location intelligence functions of Maptitude, including routing and geocoding, in any Windows desktop application written in C# or any other .NET programming languages.

Maptitude has included the GISDK (Geographical Information Systems Developer Kit) for many years. With the updated GISDK .NET APIs, programming Maptitude in .NET has been simplified.

Firstly, the GISDK Extension Engine API lets you extend the Maptitude desktop application itself by writing in-process extensions in C# or any other .NET language, without the need to learn a new programming language.

Secondly, the GISDK Connection API lets you connect a new or existing .NET stand-alone Windows desktop application to Maptitude out-of-process.

Either way, you can program Maptitude in .NET to build custom applications for the desktop, and analyze and share data generated from a wide range of maps, including those that show demographic trends, population density, and sales potential.

Rich Set of Geo-Processing Functions

Whether you use the in-process extension API or the out-of-process connection API, you can access more than 850 GIS functions. These functions include:

  • Opening geographic files in many GIS formats
  • Creating maps in many different geographic projections
  • Geocoding street addresses using your licensed country data packages
  • Geocoding tables of street addresses
  • Reverse geocoding: obtaining information about all the map layers for an input geographic coordinate
  • Selecting (filtering) map features near a geographic coordinate by circle, by shape, or by query
  • Calculating the directions between geographic coordinates by minimizing the travel time
  • Maptitude also offers a rich set of functions for thematic mapping, territory management, and spatial data import from a variety of source formats such as Excel, Access, Txt, and so on.

Offline Mapping Applications

While the GISDK provides a rich set of geo-processing APIs, the Maptitude country packages installed on the user computer include all the geographic data needed by the application. So Maptitude and the GISDK are well-suited for offline usage. No network connectivity is required for the API functionality.

Installation and Licensing Options

When you redistribute applications that you have developed using Maptitude, make sure that the target machines have Maptitude installed as well. Also, note that the Maptitude desktop licensing model prevents you from developing web-based applications.

Programming Examples:

Below are some links to C# examples. The order in which they are listed is the order of difficulty.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I geocode data from spreadsheets?

Yes. You can import and geocode data tables in many common formats, including Excel and CSV. You can geocode by street address, postcodes, city and state, Census FIPS codes, or any other geocoding method included in your country data package.

How many records can I geocode with the GISDK?

Unlimited!

How many origin-destination pairs can I route with the GISDK?

Unlimited!

Can I find the best route using travel times?

Yes. See the "Calculating a Route" example above.

Can I include intermediate stops (waypoints) in a route?

Yes. As many as you want.

Can I solve the traveling salesman route problem with multiple stops?

Yes. As many stops as you want. Maptitude can order the stops for you.

Do your reported travel times take into account traffic?

Yes. Congestion is taken into account for a fixed time using historical data.

Is there a Maptitude OCX control to allow Maptitude to be embedded in another Microsoft application such as Access?

You are looking for a Maptitude map control that you can embed inside another program (e.g. Access). However, we do not provide this as a product. Our only solution is to capture bitmap images of the map in Maptitude, and then display these static images in the GUI of the other application - there is an ActiveX sample that we can provide that does this.

Publishing Maps on the Web:

Caliper also provides comprehensive GIS application development services. We specialize in designing, implementing, and integrating GIS applications and web services. More...

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