The Google Maps .NET Control recently reached 10.000 downloads a short time ago. It hapenned just about the same time that some idiot decided to ram into me going home from work and cause me to break my collarbone. So since coding has been rather painful at the moment, I've been spending some time going over where to go next.
When I started with Google Maps, the API was still version 1. It was very interesting hacking version 2, and working with the features as they came in. Back then maps were almost considered the coolest thing you could have on your site. Now it's difficult to imagine a website without (almost). Google is now announcing version 3 of the maps API.
This popularization of mapping APIs can be felt when running a development project. I'm by no means a big shot map developer, but it can get tedious to have to deal with coding basics instead of focusing on the more cutting edge in map application development. I don't want to be a whiner, but if people want to develop AJAX applications, at least learn the basics of AJAX development.
Now there is a new option for people who want to develop cool web applications, Silverlight. I've previously mentioned DeepEarth as a great map control for Silverlight, and Microsoft has just released the CTP of their Silverlight map control (which will probably be called Bind maps). There is a fairly steep learning curve, but once you pass that you have the full Silverlight UI engine at your disposal for your
map application.
With Silverlight you can develop map applications that simply were not possible with the 'traditional' AJAX maps. Not only is the UI rendering engine much more powerful, but it also takes all the magic out of creating a fast distributed application. One thing that made me reluctant to embrace Microsoft's Silverlight control is that it is not free for commercial use. The license fees are not entirely clear to me. They are transaction based, and with the amount of requests the map generates it may lead to a nasty surprise when it's time to pay for all the requests. I can't say I really blame them. Maintaining map tiles is expensive. Yet Google still manages to let you have them for free (if you use their API). OpenStreetMaps is another provider of free maps (only street maps though). If you are like me and don't need to see your house from above, then a custom tile source loading OpenStreetMaps into the Silverlight control gives you the best free mapping platform for the moment.
With the ability to use native .NET code for your map app there is
little justification for continuing to develop a wrapper around a
JavaScript API. So where does that leave the Google Maps .NET Control? The control will continue to be available as an open source project, but my time will be spent developing support for map applications through webservices and WCF.