Azure Maps Blog articles

Announcing the General Availability of the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API

sinnypan — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:22:55 GMT

It was just last September that we were Introducing the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API but now we’re excited to announce the general availability (GA) of the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API, a production‑ready REST service that delivers fast, intelligent, and structured location suggestions.

After a successful public preview, we have integrated your feedback and this API is now fully supported for mission‑critical workloads, providing a modern, scalable successor to the Bing Maps Autosuggest REST API and empowering developers to deliver high‑quality, responsive location experiences.

Why This API Matters

Today’s applications increasingly rely on smart, real‑time location suggestions, whether for store locators, delivery routing, rideshare dispatch, address entry, or dynamic search UIs. The Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API brings:

Instant, relevant, typed‑ahead suggestions
Granular result type filtering for Place or Address categories or even subtypes of Place category
Structured, developer‑friendly outputs
Support for multilingual experiences and localized ranking
Proximity‑aware and popularity‑aware results

Whether you are modernizing an existing solution or building something new, this API gives you precision, flexibility, and performance at scale.

From Preview to GA: What’s New

✔ Stable GA API version

The service is now available on the 2026‑01‑01 GA version, offering a reliable, long‑term contract for production workloads.

✔ Improved suggestion ranking and language handling

This version introduces refined ranking logic and improved language handling, enabling more accurate, geo‑aware, and language‑appropriate suggestions across global markets.

✔ Updated documentation and samples

The GA release includes new and refreshed REST API documentation, updated samples, and improved how-to-guide to help developers build complete geocoding workflows and migrate from Bing Maps more easily.

What It Can Do

The Geocode Autocomplete API is purpose‑built to deliver accurate, structured suggestions as users type. Core capabilities include:

Entity suggestions: Places (e.g., administrative divisions, populated places, landmarks, postal codes) and Address (e.g., roads, point addresses) entities
Structured output: Consistent address components for easy downstream integration
Relevance‑based ranking: Popularity, proximity, and bounding‑box awareness
Multilingual support: Honor language preferences via Accept-Language
Flexible filtering: Target specific countries or entity types

These capabilities help you create intuitive, high‑quality user experiences across global applications.

How to Use It

Use the GA version of Geocode Autocomplete with the following endpoint:

https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01&query={query}

Common optional parameters include:

coordinates – Bias suggestions near the provided location
bbox – Biases suggestions to entities that fall within the specified bounding box of the visible map area
top – Limit the number of returned suggestions
resultTypeGroups / resultTypes – Filter for Places or Addresses or its subtypes
countryRegion – Restrict to specific country/Region

A typical workflow:

Call Autocomplete as the user types
Use the selected suggestion with Azure Maps Geocoding service to retrieve coordinates and complete the interaction (e.g., map display, routing, address validation)

Example: Autocomplete for Place Entity Query

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01 &subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey} &coordinates={coordinates} &query=new yo &top=3

This request returns structured top 3 suggestions for the partial input “new yo,” helping users quickly find places like New York city or New York state based on user location.

{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "typeGroup": "Place", "type": "PopulatedPlace", "geometry": null, "address": { "locality": "New York", "adminDistricts": [ { "name": "New York", "shortName": "N.Y." } ], "countryRegions": { "ISO": "US", "name": "United States" }, "formattedAddress": "New York, N.Y." } } }, { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "typeGroup": "Place", "type": "AdminDivision1", "geometry": null, "address": { "locality": "", "adminDistricts": [ { "name": "New York", "shortName": "N.Y." } ], "countryRegions": { "ISO": "US", "name": "United States" }, "formattedAddress": "New York" } } }, { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "typeGroup": "Place", "type": "AdminDivision2", "geometry": null, "address": { "locality": "", "adminDistricts": [ { "name": "New York", "shortName": "N.Y." }, { "name": "New York County" } ], "countryRegions": { "ISO": "US", "name": "United States" }, "formattedAddress": "New York County" } } } ] }

Example: Autocomplete for an Address Entity Query

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01 &subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey} &bbox={bbox} &query=One Micro &top=3 &countryRegion=US

This request returns structured address suggestion for NE One Microsoft Way, categorized as an Address entity.

{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "typeGroup": "Address", "type": "RoadBlock", "geometry": null, "address": { "locality": "Redmond", "adminDistricts": [ { "name": "Washington", "shortName": "WA" }, { "name": "King County" } ], "countryRegions": { "ISO": "US", "name": "United States" }, "postalCode": "98052", "streetName": "NE One Microsoft Way", "addressLine": "", "formattedAddress": "NE One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, United States" } } } ] }

Example: Integrate with Web Application

Below sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and user location.

Web UI sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and user location.

Ready to Bring Autocomplete to Production?

The Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API is now fully production‑ready, giving you the stability, performance, and flexibility needed to power fast, intuitive location‑driven experiences. Whether you're migrating from Bing Maps Autosuggest or enhancing your existing address or search workflows, the GA release makes it easier to deliver high‑quality suggestions at scale.

If you're ready to upgrade your location experiences, now’s the perfect time to start. Explore the updated Azure Maps Autocomplete documentation, try the new endpoint, and let us know how it works for you. We’d love to hear your feedback. Let’s keep building great location intelligence experiences together.

Resources to Get Started

Geocode Autocomplete REST API Documentation

How-to-Guide for Azure Maps Search Service

Geocode Autocomplete Samples

Migrate from Bing Maps to Azure Maps

How to Use Azure Maps APIs

Azure Maps: Understanding View vs. Routing Coordinates

IoTGirl — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:27:42 GMT

When you work with Azure Maps long enough, you will eventually run into a subtle but important detail: the platform returns two different types of coordinates for the same address. And while they may look interchangeable, they behave very differently once you start routing, calculating travel times, or dropping pins on a map.

Let’s break down what each represents and how to use them correctly when building location‑intelligent applications.

Why Azure Maps Has More Than One Coordinate for a Place

Geocoders, including Azure Maps, are designed to satisfy two competing needs:

Show the place in the visually “accurate” spot on a map.
Get people or goods to a real, accessible point on the road network.

The coordinate that satisfies the first need is rarely the same answer for the second, in fact it can be wildly off. If you have ever visited a National Park or other large location where the entrance is far from where you would display the center of the park, you will note that the difference between these coordinates can be many miles apart and often you can't drive to the exact center, so we would say the View coordinate is not Routable. So Azure Maps provides them separately; one to power the visual map experience, the other to power the routing engine.

The View Coordinate: Your Visual Anchor Point

Think of the Azure Maps view coordinate as “the place where the map pin should sit.” It may come from an address parcel, a building footprint centroid, or a point-of-interest geometry. Azure Maps will provide whatever option that produces the most natural visual representation of the feature on the map.

This is the important part for our topic: a view coordinate is not guaranteed to land on a road or even near one. It might be in the center of a large warehouse, deep inside a shopping mall footprint, or somewhere else that makes sense visually but is effectively unreachable from the road network.

View coordinates are great for anything that involves visual context such as placing a point on the map, centering the map on a search result, running spatial clustering on data values, or doing proximity lookups. They’re simply not intended for navigation.

The Routing Coordinate: Your Navigable Access Point

Routing coordinates serve a very different purpose. Azure Maps generates them to represent an access point. The point where a vehicle, pedestrian, or cyclist can legally and realistically approach or leave the location from the road network.

This usually means:

The point is snapped to the closest routable road segment.
It’s positioned where a driver or pedestrian can actually arrive (e.g., the driveway, street entrance, or legal access point).
It includes the orientation and topology needed for the routing engine to produce correct ETAs, distance calculations, and directions.

When you're calling Azure Maps Routing APIs—calculateRoute, routeRange, distance matrices, isochrones, multi‑itinerary optimization—you should always feed the routing coordinate into the engine. Feeding a view coordinate instead may cause the service to snap to the wrong part of the network, or worse, find no viable route at all.

How Azure Maps Exposes These Coordinates

Azure Maps surfaces routing coordinates and view coordinates through structured fields in its search and geocoding responses. The naming varies by API, but you will often see:

"usageTypes": [ "Display" ] denotes position or displayPosition → View coordinate
"usageTypes": [ "Route" ] denotes routePosition, accessPoint, or entryPoints → Routing coordinate

Azure Maps provides both and should your scenario involve travel movement (even indirectly), the routing coordinate is the authoritative choice.

What Goes Wrong When You Swap Them

If you use a view coordinate for routing, you can be asking for routes that terminate inside a building footprint, on the wrong side of the street, or at an incorrect driveway. You might also see unexpected route endpoints because the routing engine is forced to snap the point to whichever road segment it thinks is closest, which might not be the correct one.

On the other hand, if you use a routing coordinate for display, your pins may look "off" because the access point for an address could be far from the building’s center.

This is why the distinction matters: one is about realism, the other about navigability.

The Upside: Using Them Correctly in Your Applications

When building an end‑to‑end Azure Maps experience, a good mental model is:

Map UI? Use the view coordinate.
Anything involving routing logic? Use the routing coordinate.

That includes distance calculations, service‑area modeling, route planning, delivery optimization, pickup/drop-off flows, fleet operations, and anything else where “how the user gets there” matters just as much as “where it is.”

With this separation of geocode results, you can trust Azure Maps to keep your visual experience clean while ensuring the routing engine has the precision it needs to get users where they actually need to go.

To find out more about Azure Maps Geocoding and our new Azure Maps AutoComplete experience, check out Search for a location using Azure Maps Search services | Microsoft Learn

Guest Blog: Modernizing your WPF App maps functionality with Azure Maps with OnTerra Systems

IoTGirl — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 23:23:29 GMT

Although Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) was initially released by Microsoft in 2006 with .NET Framework 3.0, there are still a huge number of mission critical WPF applications still in use today within a wide range of industries such as logistics, manufacturing, healthcare and banking. For those unfamiliar with WPF – it’s a UI framework for building Windows desktop applications. It uses XAML for UI design, C# or VB.NET for logic, MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) for the primary design pattern, and it offers vector-based rendering, data binding, animation, styles/templates, and custom controls — all natively supported by Windows.

Migrating your WPF application to use more contemporary Windows-centric approaches such as WinUI, React Native for Desktop, .NET MAUI and Blazor, or rewriting your application to be fully browser-based, can be very time-consuming and may be unnecessary in certain situations. With the deprecation of Bing Maps for Enterprise and the Bing Maps WPF Control, organizations that need maps and geospatial functionality in their WPF applications should upgrade to Microsoft’s modern maps and geospatial platform, Azure Maps.

Specifically, one approach to migrating from Bing Maps to Azure Maps and continuing with your WPF-based application is to use the OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control, which is built on the Azure Maps Web SDK and includes virtually all of the same functionality as the Bing Maps WPF Control, such as road and aerial/satellite map styles, and pushpin, polygon and polyline overlay support. The OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control is a solution that translates Bing Map WPF Control methods to use the equivalent Azure Maps functionality and renders the map using .NET WebView2.

Migrating from the Bing Maps WPF Control to the OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control can be done within a few steps and avoids the need to rewrite your WPF application’s maps functionality.

A map with a pushpin in a WPF application using the Azure Maps-based OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control

Let’s take a closer look at how Azure Maps is implemented in the OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control.

This WPF-based maps solution uses Azure Maps via a wrapper SDK, integrating .NET WebView2 for modern map rendering, and was developed using AI-assisted development tools.

Middle-layer wrapper using Azure Maps

A middle-layer wrapper translates all Bing Maps WPF Control properties, tags, and method calls into corresponding Azure Maps Web SDK equivalents.
The wrapper handles all conversions internally, mitigating the need for developers to rewrite or refactor any maps related logic.

.NET WebView2 integration

The WPF control utilizes the WebView2 browser component to render the Azure Maps Web SDK directly within the WPF application, which combines the strengths of both web and native platforms.
This approach allows the application to leverage modern browser capabilities for map rendering and interactivity, while staying within a familiar WPF environment.

Use of the Azure Maps Web SDK

The Azure Maps Web SDK provides faster performance, smoother rendering, and an improved user experience, particularly for interactive maps and real-time updates.
Building the WPF Map Control solution on the Azure Maps Web SDK provides the opportunity to extend the WPF application to use additional Azure Maps Web SDK features and map styles in the future.

SDK package for simplified integration

The solution is packaged as a reusable SDK, rather than exposing APIs directly as this approach is easier for integration and provides developers with a ready-to-use experience.
Replacing the Bing Maps WPF Control NuGet package with the OnTerra Map Control NuGet package is one of the steps to migrating from Bing Maps to Azure Maps in your WPF application and continues the already-familiar NuGet package-based approach.

Using the OnTerra WPF Map Control approach provides a way for your existing Bing Maps WPF Control code to continue to function without any significant changes, enabling a straightforward migration from Bing Maps to Azure Maps. While there are different possible approaches to bringing the power of Azure Maps to your new or existing Windows applications as mentioned above, the OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control provides:

No code refactoring required: Existing Bing Maps WPF Control applications can transition to Azure Maps with minimal modifications in your existing application code.
Ease of integration: The SDK package ensures minimal setup and a plug-and-play experience for developers.
Faster development and maintenance: The internal middle-layer wrapper handles all complexities, reducing developer effort.

To get access to the OnTerra Systems WPF Map Control or if you’d like to discuss how it can help you seamlessly transition to Azure Maps, please contact OnTerra Systems at https://www.onterrasystems.com/contact.

Introducing the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API

sinnypan — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:46:13 GMT

We’re thrilled to unveil the public preview of Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API, a powerful REST service designed to modernize and elevate autocomplete capabilities across Microsoft’s mapping platforms.

If you’ve ever started typing an address into a search bar and immediately seen a list of relevant suggestions—whether it’s for a landmark, or your own home—you’ve already experienced the convenience of autocomplete. What’s less obvious is just how complex it is to deliver those suggestions quickly, accurately, and in a format that modern applications can use. That’s exactly the challenge this new API is designed to solve.

Why Autocomplete Matters More Than Ever

The Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API is the natural successor to the Bing Maps Autosuggest REST API, designed to meet the growing demand for intelligent, real-time location suggestions across a wide range of applications. It’s an ideal solution for developers who need reliable and scalable autocomplete functionality—whether for small business websites or large-scale enterprise systems. Key use cases include:

Store locators: When a customer starts typing “New Yo…” into store locator, autocomplete instantly suggests “New York, N.Y.” With just a click, the map centers on the right location—making it fast and effortless to find the nearest branch.
Rideshare or dispatching platforms: A rideshare driver needs to pick up a passenger at “One Microsoft Way.” Instead of typing out the full address, the driver starts entering “One Micro…” and the app instantly offers the correct road segment in Redmond, Washington.
Delivery services: A delivery app can limit suggestions to postal codes within a specific region, ensuring the addresses customers choose are deliverable and reducing the risk of failed shipments
Any Web UIs requiring location input: From real estate search to form autofill, autocomplete enhances the user experience wherever accurate location entry is needed.

What the API Can Do

The Geocode Autocomplete API is designed to deliver fast, relevant, and structured suggestions as users type. Key capabilities include:

Entity Suggestions: Supports both Place (e.g., administrative districts, populated places, landmarks, postal codes) and Address (e.g., roads, point addresses) entities.
Ranking: Results can be ranked based on entity popularity, user location (coordinates), and bounding box (bbox).
Structured Output: Returns suggestions with structured address formats, making integration seamless.
Multilingual Support: Set up query language preferences via the Accept-Language parameter.
Flexible Filtering: You can filter suggestions by specifying a country or region using countryRegion, or by targeting a specific entity subtype using resultType. This allows you to extract entities with precise categorization—for example, you can filter results to return only postal codes to match the needs of a location-based selection input in your web application.

How It Works

The Geocode Autocomplete API is accessed via the following endpoint:

https://atlas.microsoft.com/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2025-06-01-preview

This endpoint provides autocomplete-style suggestions for addresses and places. With just a few parameters, like your Azure Maps subscription key, a query string, and optionally user coordinates or a bounding box, you can start returning structured suggestions instantly. Developers can further issue geocode service with the selected/ideal entity as query to locate the entity on map, which is a common scenario for producing interactive mapping experiences.

Let’s look at below examples:

Example 1: Place Entity Autocomplete

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2025-06-01-preview &subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey} &coordinates={coordinates} &query=new yo &top=3

A user starts typing “new yo.” The API quickly returns results like “New York City” and “New York State,” each complete with structured metadata you can plug directly into your app.

Example 2: Address Entity Autocomplete

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2025-06-01-preview &subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey} &bbox={bbox} &query=One Micro &top=3 &countryRegion=US

A query for “One Micro” scoped to the U.S. yields “NE One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, United States.” That’s a complete, structured address ready to be mapped, dispatched, or stored.

Example 3: Integration with Web Application

Below sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and location.

Web UI sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and user location.

Pricing and Billing

The Geocode Autocomplete API uses the same metering model as the Azure Maps Search service. For billing purposes, every 10 Geocode Autocomplete API requests are counted as one billable transaction. This approach keeps usage and costs consistent with what developers are already familiar with in Azure Maps.

Ready to Build Smarter Location Experiences?

Whether you're powering a store locator, enhancing address entry, or building a dynamic dispatch system, the new Geocode Autocomplete API gives you the precision, flexibility, and performance needed to deliver seamless location intelligence. With real-world use cases already proving its value, now is the perfect time to integrate this service into your applications and unlock richer, more interactive mapping experiences.

Let’s build what’s next—faster, smarter, and more intuitive.

Resources to Get Started

Geocode Autocomplete REST API Documentation

Geocode Autocomplete Samples

Migrate from Bing Maps to Azure Maps

How to use Azure Maps APIs

Transforming Dynamics 365 Customer Data with Azure Maps | Inogic Guest Post

IoTGirl — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:27:05 GMT

Location Intelligence Matters in Customer Record Management

CRM systems like Microsoft Dynamics 365 provide a centralized view of leads, accounts, and transactions. However, this data is typically presented in rows and columns, with little to no geographic context. This limits a user's ability to:

Visualize customer distribution across regions
Detect gaps in market or service coverage
Prioritize field visits and sales efforts based on areas
Plan regions or campaigns with spatial precision

Integrating location-based data visualization helps fill these critical gaps, and that’s where Azure Maps plays a pivotal role. As Microsoft’s native geospatial platform, Azure Maps delivers enterprise-grade capabilities such as mapping, geocoding, routing, and spatial analytics directly into your Dynamics 365 environment, making location insights native, seamless, and powerful.

From Data Grids to visual Geographic Insights

Instead of sifting through long tables of data, Azure Maps integration into customer data empowers businesses to plot CRM records such as accounts, leads, service calls, or assets on an interactive map where everything is visible at a glance

This spatial perspective delivers obvious, real-world advantages:

Sales teams can identify high-potential zones and underserved areas to target prospects more effectively
Field reps can plan customer visits based on proximity and travel efficiency.
Service managers can monitor technician workloads and optimize routes to reduce response times
Marketing teams can visualize campaign reach and plan location-specific strategies for maximum impact

By transforming static grids into dynamic maps, Azure Maps makes location intelligence an everyday part of CRM operations.

Key Benefits of Azure Maps Integration in Dynamics 365

Below are some of the most impactful ways Azure Maps enhances Dynamics 365 CRM:

Accurate Geocoding of CRM Records

Azure Maps geocodes physical addresses into precise latitude and longitude coordinates, allowing Dynamics 365 records to be mapped with a high degree of accuracy. This geocoding capability forms the foundation for effective route optimization and proximity-based decision-making. With reliable location data, strategies become more informed and execution more efficient. The geocoding is done using the Azure Maps Search API - Address

Visual Mapping and Clustering

Visualizing CRM data on an interactive map transforms abstract rows into intuitive, color-coded pins. With clustering capabilities, users can identify regions of high activity, saturation, or performance. It is done using Azure Maps clustering point data. Whether you’re analyzing customer density, identifying service coverage gaps, or plotting competitor locations, spatial visualizations provide clarity that traditional grids can’t match.

Proximity Search and Radius Filtering

Azure Maps makes it easy to perform radius searches to locate CRM records within a specific distance or travel time, by driving or walking, from any point. Whether you are planning a day of client visits or responding to service requests, proximity search ensures you prioritize the right contacts and reduce unnecessary travel. The APIs that help with this are the Azure Maps Search API – Polygon and the Azure Maps Drawing tool.

Optimized Routing and Field Planning

Azure Maps provides turn-by-turn navigation powered by real-time traffic data, integrating with popular services like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze. The Azure Maps Route API helps in this. For field reps and service engineers, this means optimized daily routes that reduce fuel costs, travel time, and delays. Admins can also automate schedules for multi-day visits based on location and skills, helping teams operate more efficiently and deliver better customer experiences.

Real Results with Location Intelligence

Organizations embracing location intelligence are achieving measurable improvements across industries. By integrating Azure Maps with Dynamics 365, businesses have reported tangible improvements, including:

12% faster revenue growth compared to those not using location intelligence

Improved field efficiency through optimized routing and reduced travel time
Enhanced customer experience with faster, location-based service delivery
Stronger sales alignment, leading to higher team productivity

More precise marketing campaigns, driven by regional and demographic insights

From logistics and healthcare to finance, retail, and manufacturing, location intelligence is delivering results that drive growth.

Introducing Maplytics by Inogic

While Azure Maps provides the foundational location services, like geocoding, routing, and spatial analytics, Maplytics is the Microsoft certified solution that brings these capabilities to life inside Dynamics 365.

Developed by Inogic and available on Microsoft AppSource, Maplytics is a Microsoft-certified, geo-analytical app designed to seamlessly integrate Azure Maps and Bing Maps with Dynamics 365, Power Apps, Dataverse, and Power Pages. It extends the power of Azure Maps through a rich set of features tailored specifically for sales, service, and marketing teams, enabling real-time mapping, route optimization, proximity search, spatial filtering, and more.

What Maplytics Adds Beyond Azure Maps integration

While Azure Maps provides the core geospatial services, Maplytics enhances and extends these capabilities to meet the specific needs of CRM users.

Analytical Dashboards: Visualize performance with priority metrics and chart-based overlays

Proximity + Multi-Criteria Search: Perform advanced searches combining radius, travel time, entity type, filters, and record status
Mobile Compatibility: Plan and access optimized routes on the go with mobile-responsive mapping

These enhancements transform Azure Maps from a general-purpose mapping tool to a robust, CRM-embedded intelligence engine tailored for real-world business applications.

From logistics and healthcare to finance, retail, and manufacturing, Maplytics, combined with Azure Maps, delivers tailored, actionable insights that address the unique needs of each industry.

Explore Even More Advanced Capabilities

Ready to go further? Maplytics offers a comprehensive suite of advanced features built on Azure Maps and Bing Maps for Enterprise, including:

Radius Search, optimized routing with and Along-the-Route Appointment Planning
Real-time tracking of field representatives
Heat Maps, Census Data, and overlays for in-depth analysis

Get Started

To explore how Maplytics can transform your industry workflows and enhance your Dynamics 365 experience, visit our Website or Microsoft AppSource. You can also dive into our Blogs, read Client Testimonials, or browse our Video Library for real-world applications and feature walkthroughs.Azure Maps

Mastering Time with Microsoft Azure Maps Timezone API

IoTGirl — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 23:04:19 GMT

If you are a developer building a solution that needs to be aware of availability Globally, that’s where the Microsoft Azure Maps Timezone API comes to the rescue! The Azure Maps Timezone API allows developers to retrieve accurate time zone information for any location on Earth. It supports:

Geospatial queries (latitude/longitude) - What is the timezone at the given co-ordinate?
IANA and Windows Timezone IDs - Get the standard names, settings and codes for timezones.
Sunrise and sunset times - Will I be there when I can see in daylight or will it be nighttime?
Historical and future time zone transitions - Daylight savings can add a wrench into planning so be aware of time changes!

This API is part of the broader Azure Maps platform and integrates seamlessly with other Azure services, has the benefits of being co-located with other Azure services and includes multiple methods to access.

Real-World Use Cases

Telematics and Logistics

In the automotive and logistics sectors, accurate time zone data is vital for post-processing telemetry. For example, OEMs using TomTom data can leverage Azure Maps on the backend to normalize timestamps across regions—ensuring consistency in fleet analytics, delivery tracking, and driver behavior analysis.

IoT and Smart Buildings

Sunrise and sunset data from the API can be used to automate lighting, HVAC, and security systems. This is especially useful for energy optimization in smart buildings, where operations need to align with natural light cycles.

Global Scheduling and Compliance

Applications that span multiple time zones—like global HR platforms, travel apps, or compliance systems—rely on accurate time zone conversion. Azure Maps ensures that meetings, deadlines, and alerts are synchronized across regions.

Retail and Operations

Retailers with stores in multiple time zones can use the API to coordinate store openings, delivery windows, and promotional campaigns. This ensures a consistent customer experience regardless of location.

Azure Maps Timezone API Developer Experience

Azure Maps provides a Web SDK that can be used for JavaScript, .NET, Python and more. Developers can also use the REST API directly from their favorite development environment. This API offers several endpoints:

Here’s a quick example using JavaScript:

fetch(`https://atlas.microsoft.com/timezone/byCoordinates/json?api-version=1.0&query=47.6062,-122.3321&subscription-key=YOUR_KEY`) .then(response => response.json()) .then(data => console.log(data));

You can try this live at Get Users Timezone with Prompt - Azure Maps Web SDK Samples and check out this sample and more at Samples.AzureMaps.com. All Azure Maps samples have full source available in GitHub.

In Summary

The Azure Maps Timezone API is a critical tool for any application that needs to be time-aware. It sits within a comprehensive suite of mapping APIs that is Azure compliant and available to be added to any Azure project. From logistics to IoT to global operations, Azure Maps provides the precision and flexibility developers need to build robust, scalable geospatial solutions.

Using Location Data to Gain Insights with Azure Maps

IoTGirl — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:04:53 GMT

Azure Maps provides current and historical data to help you build your applications and create new insights. Support business decisions, enable planning, and power predictions with GIS data management. Combine Azure Maps with data in your Azure account to do even more.

Smart decisions and plans, powered by data.

Whether you’re finding the best possible place for a new business outlet or optimizing routing for multiple agents, every successful decision starts with better data. Azure Maps APIs’ delivers the geospatial data that thousands of businesses around the world depend on. Find out how Azure Maps APIs’ global coverage and high-accuracy geospatial data can transform organization outcomes.

Rich geospatial data

Access a vast repository of high-quality geospatial data curated from diverse sources worldwide, and leverage powerful analytics tools to extract actionable insights from spatial data provided within the Azure environment, uncovering hidden patterns, trends, and correlations that drive strategic initiatives

Boundless flexibility

Benefit from Azure's robust and scalable infrastructure. Process and analyze large volumes of spatial data efficiently and cost-effectively. Visualize spatial data in a way that suits your needs with customizable maps, location data management tools, and dashboards that facilitate clear communication and decision-making.

Industry-specific compliance

Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements by accessing geospatial data management tools that meet the highest standards of accuracy, privacy, and security with spatial analytics solutions tailored to your industry's unique compliance criteria, whether you're in retail, logistics, real estate, or urban planning.

GIS data management, simplified

Azure Maps makes it easy to use and integrate our accurate geospatial data into your applications to unlock new insights. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or new to building mapping applications, you’ll find it easy to work with these robust and intuitive mapping APIs. Azure Maps API provides everything you need to thrive with your next app, from generating accurate time zone data, leveraging live or predictive traffic to high-resolution weather information.

Timezone API

The timezone API allows developers to query the timezone for any latitude/longitude. The timezone service can return past, current, and future timezones, localized time zones in UTC, or daylight savings in various formats.

Explore Timezone API Get Started With Timezones

Traffic Data

The traffic service provides data on traffic flow and incidents for a given area or route and presents this information as a map overlay using the Traffic REST API. This location data management feature provides insights and critical awareness of flow and incidents along a route that could affect routes, distance, and travel time between locations.

Explore Traffic API Demo: Traffic Data Get Started with Traffic Data in Your Application

Weather Data

Our weather service provides daily, historical, normal, and actuals for any latitude/longitude while also providing temperature, air quality, and storm information using the Weather API. This REST API provides valuable data to inform prediction and modeling based on current and forecasted data, helping developers create weather-informed applications.

Explore Weather API Demo: Adding Weather Data Get Started With Weather Data

Explore the Azure Maps Platform

Large-scale geospatial applications require innovative tools and effective optimization to balance data efficiency and usability. We have only introduced three of these Data rich options, but Azure Maps has a whole lot more to offer. Explore Azure Maps’ capabilities and leverage Azure Maps rich Data APIs today for gaining deeper insights and building better geospatial solutions.

Why Upgrading to the Latest Azure Maps APIs Matters

cschotte — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 08:50:00 GMT

At the Azure Maps Product Group, we work every day to provide you the best location and mapping solutions. Whether it’s through our developer-centric Azure Maps APIs or seamless integrations with low-code platforms like Power BI and Microsoft Fabric, our goal is to deliver accurate, reliable, and high-performance geospatial capabilities.

All Azure Maps products are powered by our APIs, which are also available for developers to integrate into their own applications. To ensure you get the best experience, with the highest data quality and global coverage, we strongly recommend using the latest versions of the Azure Maps REST APIs. This is the same approach we follow for all our first-party integrations within Microsoft.

You might wonder why upgrading to the latest API versions is so important. Let’s look at an example. One of the most widely used Azure Maps services is the Geocoder API. When we first launched version 1.0, it relied on a single data provider with basic AI-powered logic. While it served its purpose, the coverage and accuracy had room for improvement. Today, with the latest version (2025-01-01), we’ve taken geocoding to the next level by integrating multiple data providers, including TomTom, OpenStreetMap (OSM), and various regional and local sources. Our advanced AI-powered data fusion technology intelligently merges these datasets to provide superior accuracy, broader coverage, and an overall better geolocation experience.

However, with these improvements, there are also some necessary changes. The newer versions of our APIs now return results using the industry-standard GeoJSON format. This makes it easier to visualize data on any map, including when using the Azure Maps Web Control, without requiring additional transformations. Older versions, such as Geocoder API 1.0, did not adhere to this standard. Fortunately, the differences are minimal, and updating to the latest version requires only a small effort for developers.

In addition to our REST APIs, we also provide the Azure Maps Web Control, a powerful JavaScript-based client library that enables developers to build interactive mapping experiences in web applications. The Azure Maps Web Control has its own set of client APIs, which we regularly update to introduce new capabilities, enhance performance, and improve security. Staying up to date with the latest version ensures access to new features such as improved rendering, better integration with modern web frameworks, and optimizations for displaying large datasets. You can keep track of the latest improvements and updates by checking our release notes.

Another key reason we introduce new API versions is to align with emerging industry standards and regulations. For instance, with the adoption of ISO 20022—a new standard for payment processing that includes structured address formats—we’ve updated our APIs to ensure compliance and make it easier for businesses to integrate with financial systems that follow these regulations.

To help developers stay up to date, we provide a single reference page listing all the latest versions of our APIs, along with detailed documentation, migration guides, and best practices. You can find it here: Azure Maps REST API Documentation.

By keeping your integration up to date with the latest Azure Maps APIs and Web Control, you not only gain access to the newest features and highest data quality but also ensure compliance with evolving standards—allowing you to build more powerful and future-proof location-based applications.

Using Vector Tiles for Large-Scale Geospatial Applications

IoTGirl — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 22:02:22 GMT

Handling geospatial data on a large scale poses unique challenges, including managing highly complex datasets and ensuring efficient scalability. One effective solution is the use of vector tiles, enabling developers to streamline data rendering for vast geographic regions. A cornerstone of this technology is optimizing the vector tile size, which significantly influences map performance, load time, and overall interactivity. Unlike raster tiles, vector map tiles are lightweight and scalable, making them indispensable for modern geospatial applications that demand dynamic, high-performance mapping.

Azure Maps Vector Tile Map with Multiple Data overlays

What Are Large-Scale Geospatial Applications?

Large-scale geospatial applications manage datasets spanning countries, regions, or continents. These tools are utilized across industries like logistics, telecommunications, disaster management, and urban development. To ensure their effectiveness, developers must precisely configure the vector tile size to balance performance and scalability. The data scope is limited for smaller projects, requiring fewer resources and simpler tools to process localized information.

In contrast, larger applications like global navigation systems or 5G network planning demand advanced solutions that can process massive datasets in real-time. With the proper configuration of a vector tiles map, even vast datasets can be rendered efficiently, enabling seamless interaction for end users.

Applications of Vector Tiles in Different Industries

Large-scale geospatial mapping applications leverage vector tiles to solve practical industry challenges. Here’s how they optimize outcomes across key domains:

Disaster Management: Maps provide emergency responders with accurate, real-time data for evacuation planning and resource allocation. An efficiently optimized vector tile size ensures fast map loading and precise detail, which is critical during crises.
Telecommunications: Rolling out 5G networks across broad regions relies heavily on the scalability of these maps. Scalable maps allow planners to visualize service coverage while optimizing deployments.
Urban Development: Planners depend on detailed geospatial tools to design infrastructure like transit systems and utilities. The dynamic nature of vector tiles allows seamless adjustments and clear visuals across every zoom level.

These use cases demonstrate how careful configuration of vector tiles improves efficiency, decision-making, and overall map visualization performance across industries.

Raster Tiles vs. Vector Tiles

Raster tiles pre-render images based on pixels. While functional for static purposes, they become outdated and bandwidth-heavy when handling real-time geospatial interactions. Vector tiles, by contrast, describe data through geometries like points and polygons. This approach dramatically reduces file sizes and enhances flexibility.

Adjusting the vector tile size allows developers to strike a balance between lightweight data transfers and high-detail rendering, particularly when maps are repeatedly zoomed or customized. With a vector tiles map, styling can be adjusted dynamically, building highly interactive and user-friendly scalable mapping solutions across platforms.

The Advantages of Optimizing Vector Tile Size

Proper optimization of the tile size provides numerous benefits, particularly for large-scale applications:

Efficient Data Handling: Smaller tile sizes minimize bandwidth usage while accelerating data transmission.
Scalability Across Platforms: The same vector tiles work for web, mobile, or desktop applications without changes.
Dynamic Interactivity: Customizable styles and real-time updates improve user experience.
Seamless Zooming: Users can zoom in or out smoothly, with vector tiles adjusting dynamically to retain detail.

These features highlight why vector tiles are critical in geospatial data visualization.

Leveraging Azure Maps for Large-Scale Projects

Azure Maps provides industry-leading tools for working with vector tiles on massive scales. Its flexibility ensures maps remain efficient and responsive across projects of varying complexity.

Efficient Data Management: Azure Maps simplifies large-scale data visualization by customizing frameworks for a vector tiles map, reducing both file size and bandwidth demands. Properly configured vector tile size ensures clarity while maintaining smooth performance, even during high-demand tasks like real-time zooming.
Customization and Flexibility: The platform offers custom layers, styling, and seamless integrations with tools like PostGIS. Developers can easily tailor vector tiles to their application’s needs without compromising performance.
Enhanced Rendering: Vector tiles processed through Azure Maps ensure minimal lag and smooth interactivity, which is critical for large-scale applications. By using the correct tile configuration, maps load faster and avoid bottlenecks caused by redundant data transfers.

Best Practices for Optimizing Vector Tile Size

To ensure your applications remain efficient and scalable, follow these guidelines for optimizing the tile size:

Focus on Relevant Data: Remove redundant or irrelevant geospatial data to streamline rendering.
Adapt to Zoom Levels: Provide detailed data for closer views while simplifying wider perspectives to balance performance.
Generalize Complexity: In dense regions, such as urban traffic hubs, simplify data without compromising on meaningful details.

Implementing these best practices reduces server loads and ensures a responsive user experience, regardless of the dataset’s scale.

Explore the Platform

Large-scale geospatial applications require innovative tools and effective optimization to balance data efficiency and usability. Vector tiles deliver responsive and interactive map visualization capabilities, particularly when paired with scalable platforms like Azure Maps. However, the key to their success lies in fine-tuning the vector tile size to ensure seamless performance and scalability.

By adopting best practices and leveraging advanced tools, developers can design mapping systems that process massive datasets efficiently while exceeding user expectations. Explore Azure Maps’ capabilities and optimize your vector tiles map today for better geospatial solutions.

Azure Maps Visual in Power BI Now Supports Publish to Web

cschotte — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 09:42:32 GMT

We’re excited to announce that the Azure Maps visual in Power BI now supports Publish to Web, making it easier than ever to share interactive geospatial insights with a wider audience. This update enables Power BI users to embed Azure Maps-powered visualizations in public websites, blogs, and other online platforms, unlocking new possibilities for data storytelling and geographic analysis.

With this enhancement, users can now share interactive maps publicly, embedding Azure Maps visualizations in web pages without requiring viewers to have a Power BI license. This improvement allows for a more engaging way to present geospatial data, making it accessible to decision-makers and the public alike. By incorporating interactive maps into websites, users can bring geospatial insights to life, offering a dynamic way to explore trends, patterns, and location-based data.

Using this feature is straightforward. First, create a Power BI report and add an Azure Maps visual, configuring it with your data. Then, enable Publish to Web by navigating to the “File” menu and selecting the appropriate option, which generates an embed code. Finally, copy and paste this code into your website, blog, or online document to make the visualization available to anyone.

The Azure Maps visual in Power BI offers a range of powerful mapping capabilities. Users can customize map styles, selecting from road, satellite, grayscale, and other visual themes to fit their needs. The visual supports multiple layers, allowing for the integration of bubble layers, choropleth maps, and reference layers to enhance data analysis. Real-time data integration ensures that the maps stay up to date, while advanced geospatial data analysis capabilities, including geocoding, spatial operations, and clustering, provide deeper insights into location-based data.

If you haven’t explored the Azure Maps visual in Power BI yet, now is a great time to get started. The addition of Publish to Web makes it easier than ever to share geospatial insights with a broader audience. Try it today and discover new ways to make your location-based data more accessible and impactful.

For more information, check out the Azure Maps Visual in Power BI documentation or learn more about Publish to Web in Power BI.

Path Layer for Azure Maps Visual in Power BI

cschotte — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 09:23:48 GMT

Understanding the movement of goods, people, and information across global networks is critical. Azure Maps Visual for Power BI has introduced the Path Layer, a powerful feature that brings geospatial data to life, making it easier to visualize and analyze relationships, movements, and trends. Let’s explore how this feature unlocks new possibilities for businesses, with examples to inspire you.

What is an Path Layer?

The Path Layer in Azure Maps Visual allows users to map connections between geographic locations in Power BI. This feature is particularly useful for visualizing supply chain routes, transportation networks, migration patterns, telecommunications infrastructure, and any data involving connections between points.

With customizable line styles, users can represent different types of paths or data relationships using solid, dashed, or dotted lines. The Path Layer also supports dynamic data binding, enabling attributes like color, width, and opacity to be linked to data fields for rich, visually engaging maps. By incorporating timestamped data, the Path Layer allows for temporal analysis, making it possible to animate movements and visualize changes over time. Furthermore, the interactive filtering feature in Power BI allows users to dynamically explore specific paths or groups of connections.

Examples

Supply Chain Optimization

The sample report illustrates a global supply chain. With connections spanning continents, businesses can:

Monitor the flow of goods between key hubs.
Analyze metrics such as cost, distance, and emissions to identify inefficiencies.
Compare performance across different transportation modes (e.g., air, sea, rail, and truck).

By visualizing routes and metrics together, businesses gain a holistic view of their supply chain, enabling data-driven decision-making to enhance efficiency and sustainability.

Shipment Tracking

This sample highlights movements along coastal routes. This use case is invaluable for industries dependent on maritime logistics, enabling them to:

Monitor the location of shipments.
Visualize speed and progress over time using timestamped data.
Identify bottlenecks or deviations from planned routes.

Customization

The flexibility of the Path Layer makes it a powerful tool for storytelling and data analysis. By using colors intelligently, users can represent different data categories, such as shipment priority levels or transportation modes, in a visually meaningful way. Time-based playback can be enabled to show changes in routes or connections over a specific period, making temporal patterns clear. Contextual layers, such as topography or political boundaries, can be added to provide additional context and depth to the visualizations.

How to Get Started

To begin using the Path Layer, prepare your dataset by ensuring it includes latitude and longitude coordinates for the start and end points of each path, along with any additional attributes you wish to visualize. Add the Azure Maps Visual to your Power BI report and configure the Path Layer by mapping your dataset fields to its attributes, such as color, width, and timestamp. Customize the visual by adjusting line styles, colors, and filters to align with your analytical goals. Once your report is ready, publish it to Power BI Service and share it with stakeholders to drive informed decision-making.

Conclusion

The Azure Maps Visual Path Layer is a transformative tool for businesses seeking to uncover actionable insights from geospatial data. Whether optimizing supply chains, tracking shipments, or analyzing transportation networks, this feature enables users to tell compelling stories with their data. Start exploring the Path Layer today and unlock new opportunities for growth and efficiency.

For more details and step-by-step guidance, visit the official documentation.

Geocoding and Reverse Geocoding in Modern GIS

IoTGirl — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 01:15:30 GMT

Geocoding, a process that allows users to convert addresses into accurate latitude and longitude coordinates, acts as a vital bridge between physical locations and the digital information that powers today’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Learn all about geocoding APIs, GIS, and everything in between with this Azure Maps overview.

What are Geographic Information Systems?

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools that can help store, analyze, and visualize geospatial data. These systems allow us to visualize and analyze our world with multiple layers of information. Geocoding and reverse geocoding both play integral roles in GIS.

GIS provides a framework for uncovering spatial patterns and relationships that might otherwise remain hidden. We can gain deeper insights into complex challenges by analyzing the interplay between a location and factors like population demographics.

For example, a business looking to expand into a new area with multiple outlets can use a GIS to map its existing coverage and its competitors’ locations. An additional overlay showing population figures for different neighborhoods can help them identify gaps in the market and determine optimal locations for new outlets.

Geocoding, reverse geocoding, and GIS

Geocoding plays a pivotal role within Geographic Information Systems. Geocoding enables us to take addresses or place names and convert them into precise coordinates, effectively visualizing that data as a precise point on a map.

This geocoded data becomes a fundamental building block for spatial analysis within GIS. By associating data with specific locations, we can explore patterns, relationships, and trends based on:

Geographic proximity
Density
Distribution

…and more. Modern GIS relies extensively on geocoding to provide dynamic solutions for organizations.

Reverse geocoding is just as important for GIS. This process allows us to translate coordinates, which humans do not interpret easily, into meaningful descriptions like street addresses and city names. For example, a navigation app could use reverse geocoding to display the user’s current location as a street address.

Geocoding and reverse geocoding are also crucial for a wide range of other applications, such as route optimization and geolocation. The Azure Maps Geocoding APIs facilitate this by allowing for seamless integration with other Azure Maps APIs.

The applications of geocoding in GIS

Data integration and management

Organizations often work with large sets of data stored in non-standardized forms, including street addresses and partial components of addresses. Businesses operating across multiple regions, such as an international logistics provider, may have even more variation in their datasets.

This variation can increase the chances of errors and glitches if operators work with non-geocoded addresses. Typos and inconsistent address formats can end up being very expensive in such situations.

Geocoding and reverse geocoding services allow organizations to process that data into a more standardized format. This data can easily and efficiently be stored for future use and manipulated while minimizing the chances of human error.

Spatial analysis

Once addresses are geocoded, they become spatial data that can be managed and analyzed within a modern GIS.

Perform Queries: GIS tools allow us to perform spatial queries on geocoded data, such as finding all customers within a certain radius of a store. These queries can be converted back into street addresses using a batch reverse geocoding API.

Create Visualizations: Geocoding, reverse geocoding, and visualization tools go hand-in-hand. Geocoded data can help create thematic and interactive maps that visualize trends across geographic areas.

Monitoring: Geocoding and GIS play a key role in environmental monitoring and analysis. Geocoding environmental sensor data, for example, allows researchers to track pollution levels or wildlife populations across regions.

Service-based applications

Geocoding is absolutely essential for any scalable location and service-based application. Geocoded data is easier to process both on-device and in the cloud before it’s sent to individual users, reducing latency and creating a more convenient experience for users.

Consider, for example, a travel-oriented routing app. Geocoding and reverse geocoding would enable users to search for points of interest (POIs) near their current location, a specific address, or even a planned route. For developers building with Azure Maps, this location service is powered by the Post Search Along Route API.

GIS: Challenges and the Future

Modern GIS is already incredibly powerful, handling massive datasets and helping global organizations make consistently effective decisions. However, they still have to contend with a few challenges, such as:

Inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent address data can reduce the reliability of location-based analysis.
The need for a standardized address format across different regions and even countries that can improve the accuracy of relative geocoding and reverse geocoding.
Geocoding and GIS accuracy can be limited in areas with incomplete or outdated address databases, particularly in developing countries or remote regions.

Advancements like integration with big data and notable developments in machine learning are helping researchers navigate these challenges. Machine learning, in particular, can offer a promising way to geocode accurately for remote locations.

Experience a cutting-edge geocoding system

Azure Maps’ Geocoding APIs are already helping thousands of organizations worldwide make a bigger impact, powered by high-quality geospatial data. See what an advanced geocoding algorithm can do for your organization today. Sign up for a free Azure Maps account to get started and get $200 in free Azure credit.

Advanced Route Tracking for Transportation Services

IoTGirl — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 21:08:02 GMT

Routing services can be a somewhat underappreciated component when it comes to the response time and efficacy of first responders. The fact is, top-tier route tracking can make the difference between success and failure for transportation services providers. It can determine whether the paramedics arrive on time and have a shot at saving the patient, or if they’re too late on scene.

Azure Maps’ route tracking services have a stellar advantage in this regard in the level of real-time and historical geospatial information they can leverage to improve emergency services and their outcomes. Here’s how Azure Maps’ Routing APIs can help first responder services.

Directions

Azure Maps’ Directions API is one of the most reliable tools available to help you find the fastest route from A to B. Based on real-time traffic data, the tool helps you avoid congested roadways, closures, and so on so that your responders aren’t forced to remain idle while the roadway clears up. The Directions Service is also able to generate unique routes for every call depending on the vehicle being used, whether that’s a fireman’s truck, a paramedic’s van, or a police officer’s bike. Your responders save on time, money, and fuel with directions mapping based on the vehicle’s consumption models.

Even as a standalone API, Azure Maps Directions is a robust tool to help you implement emergency route tracking while modeling it to your department’s capabilities, missions, and goals.

Route Matrix

Azure Maps’ Get Route Matrix API is a useful tool that can analyze several route and direction variables to identify the best available resources to send to specific locations. In practice, it creates a route matrix showing the travel time and distance for every possible origin-destination pair in a list.

Say all sets of origins and destinations were arranged as column and row headers, respectively, on a table. Each cell in the table would contain the cost of routing (in travel time and distance) of making that journey. As a municipality, if you have 20 ambulances on your roster, and you need to find the closest driver to attend an emergency call, the Matrix Route API will have that information for you.

Route Range

The Get Route Range API is a handy complement to the Azure Maps’ route tracking APIs in that it will give you the maximum distance from a single point that a user can reach given available fuel, time, and energy. This API essentially creates a map, specifying a polygon boundary to indicate the reach of a user, while also calculating a set of relevant locations within that boundary that are feasible for the user to get to. It’s a good way to calculate just how far your emergency responders can be sent out on call in any given situation.

Data and Insights

Azure Maps’ emergency routing and route tracking APIs are powered by a vast repository of rich geospatial data that helps identify trends, uncover patterns, and crystallize insights that can prove invaluable in the form of actionable location-based intelligence.

The Azure Maps Traffic Service, for example, lets you integrate live traffic information into your solution. You can access macro views of traffic flows in precise detail, get by-the-minute incident reports, implement predictive routing, and optimize ETAs for your drivers and customers.

Similarly, our Weather Service offers you detailed weather data, including actual, historical, and normal, for every location or route. You can ask for everything from real-time weather alerts to hourly and daily forecasts, all of which you can build into your routing recommendations.

EV Data

Conventionally-powered fleets are quickly being replaced by electrically-powered ones. Azure Maps offers you detailed EV data you can use to help your driver with route tracking to nearby charging stations, all of it customized to each EV’s consumption model. This ensures your emergency responders aren’t stranded for lack of a nearby charging station.

Improve response times with high-quality emergency routing services

Emergency responders are in the business of saving lives and deserve the best possible chance at that by getting on-site as quickly as possible. Explore Azure Maps’ route tracking services for highly capable and flexible tools that make it easier for operators and drivers alike to do their job. Explore some of our demo map samples to get a feel for our route mapping capabilities or email MapLicQ@Microsoft.com to find our more about licensing Microsoft Maps.

How Urban Planning and GIS with Azure Maps Assist Local Governments

IoTGirl — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 20:22:30 GMT

Urban planning and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) are at the heart of building sustainable, efficient cities. They shape how cities grow, help address infrastructure needs, and ensure a high quality of life for residents. However, effective local government planning requires accurate data, detailed analysis, and real-time collaboration—areas where GIS and Azure Maps shine. These technologies enable local governments to make informed decisions, improve urban infrastructure, and engage with citizens in more meaningful ways.

Understanding the Role of GIS in Urban Planning

GIS has become an essential tool for urban and local planning by helping governments understand, analyze, and visualize spatial data. This powerful technology simplifies complex geographic information, empowering planners to develop communities that meet residents’ needs while balancing environmental and logistical constraints. Urban planning and GIS data management go hand-in-hand, offering a structured approach to collect, organize, and analyze spatial datasets for informed decision-making.

What is GIS and How Does it Work?

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) visualize and analyze spatial data—data tied to specific locations. Think of it as a digital map that incorporates layers of information, like demographics, infrastructure, or environmental conditions. These systems rely on components like spatial data collection, mapping, and advanced analysis tools. Whether it’s using satellite imagery to track changes in land use or integrating IoT data for real-time updates, GIS forms the foundation for informed decision-making in urban planning.

How GIS Supports Decision-Making in Urban Planning

GIS excels at overlaying different types of data in one map. Imagine combining population density, traffic flow, and zoning boundaries into a single visualization. This urban planning and GIS capability with Azure Maps gives planners insights into how land is being used and what areas require improvements. Need to predict how new housing projects will affect traffic? GIS modeling can forecast the impacts on local planning. From transportation planning to zoning approval, GIS enables you to make data-backed decisions for local government planning that benefit both cities and their residents.

The Role of Azure Maps in Enhancing GIS Capabilities

While GIS is powerful on its own, Azure Maps takes it further by providing scalability, real-time data integration, and cloud-based collaboration. As a geospatial mapping platform specifically tailored for developers and businesses, Azure Maps urban planning and GIS tools allow local governments to visualize and interact with data more efficiently.

Key Features of Azure Maps for Local Governments

Azure Maps includes tools for real-time data integration, which ensures maps and analyses stay up to date.
Its interactive mapping capabilities let planners visualize data in dynamic ways, encouraging cross-departmental collaboration and public engagement.
The platform is highly scalable, meaning it can handle city-level projects just as easily as neighborhood-specific tasks.
Accessibility is another key feature, as local governments can access Azure Maps remotely, enabling teams to work together regardless of their locations.
You can explore the full suite of urban planning and GIS features Azure Maps offers, including mapping and visualization.

Benefits of Cloud-Based Mapping Platforms

Cloud-based solutions like Azure Maps offer significant advantages over traditional GIS setups. You no longer need to rely on bulky servers or duplicate data across departments. Data sharing becomes seamless, enabling better communication between city planners, utility departments, and emergency services. Plus, real-time updates ensure you’re always working with the latest information. Whether it’s tracking infrastructure conditions or monitoring traffic patterns, cloud platforms are essential for modern urban planning.

Applications of GIS and Azure Maps in Urban Planning

GIS and Azure Maps offer practical toolsets to help build solutions for challenges local governments face. From visualizing data to planning for future growth, here’s how GIS assists in urban planning or local government planning:

Data Visualization and Overlay Analysis

Layering data is one of GIS’s strongest capabilities. Imagine combining maps of existing infrastructure, population trends, and environmental risks. This process helps uncover areas ideal for development or highlights communities needing additional resources. Azure Maps enhances these visualizations, making complex data accessible to government officials and even the public.

Infrastructure Management

Urban planners use GIS to monitor infrastructure conditions like road quality and water supply networks. Urban planning and GIS data management with Azure Maps play a vital role in organizing and analyzing this data for effective decisions. It allows local governments to track maintenance schedules, map out utility pipelines, or plan the optimal locations for new schools or hospitals. By analyzing current conditions with real-time data, cities can prioritize repairs and allocate resources more effectively.

Transportation Planning

Traffic congestion is a constant challenge for cities. GIS enables planners to identify bottlenecks, design efficient public transit routes, and assess how new construction could disrupt traffic flow. Azure Maps can take it a step further by integrating GPS and IoT sensor data to monitor traffic conditions in real time, ensuring smarter transportation planning.

Environmental Monitoring and Sustainability

For sustainable urban planning and development, GIS tracks elements like green spaces, air quality, and flood risks. By integrating IoT sensors with Azure Maps capabilities, local governments can enable real-time environmental monitoring. This can help manage natural resources more responsibly and design neighborhoods that balance economic development with environmental protection.

Emergency Response and Disaster Management

When crises strike, quick and informed responses save lives. Using GIS, local governments can map evacuation routes, identify high-risk zones, and allocate emergency resources where they’re needed most. Azure Maps enhances these processes by offering the tools you need to create instant updates and mobile accessibility. For example, during a flood, local governments can use location-based data to manage emergency response teams and reroute traffic away from danger zones.

Benefits of Implementing GIS and Azure Maps for Local Government Urban Planning Needs

GIS and Azure Maps provide clear advantages for local planning. By integrating spatial analysis with real-time mapping, local governments can streamline operations, connect with citizens, and make smarter decisions.

Enhanced Public Engagement Through Interactive Maps

Public involvement is crucial in local government planning. With tools like Azure Maps, governments can create interactive maps for residents to view upcoming projects, share feedback, and stay informed. This not only improves transparency but also fosters trust and collaboration between governments and their communities. Interactive tools for map visualization make it easier for residents to understand complex urban plans.

Optimized Resource Management

Accurate spatial data ensures that resources like utilities, schools, and public transit are aligned with community needs. Urban planning and GIS maps help local governments see where gaps exist and prioritize accordingly. Azure Maps enhances this process by offering cloud-based accessibility, ensuring decisions are based on the most current information, even from remote locations.

Improved Collaboration Between Departments

Planning public services like waste management or water distribution often involves multiple departments. Azure Maps simplifies data sharing, making sure everyone is working from the same up-to-date information. This coordinated approach reduces redundancies and speeds up project planning, saving time and money.

Try Azure Maps for Free

GIS and Azure Maps have revolutionized urban planning by equipping local governments with better tools for decision-making and resource management. Whether it’s environmental monitoring, transportation planning, or community engagement, these technologies enhance every aspect of local planning. By embracing these tools, your city can ensure smarter, more sustainable growth while fostering greater transparency and trust with residents. Try Azure Maps for free today.

HO HO HO Two point OH & Radar the Elf

IoTGirl — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:15:48 GMT

As a follow up to last year’s Azure Maps NORAD Santa Tracker blog, we wanted to let you know that this holiday season, the Official NORAD Tracks Santa site is back and better than ever, thanks to Radar the Elf. Radar is an AI-powered elf designed to enhance your Santa tracking experience by answering questions about Santa and NORAD in 133 supported languages. We thought you might want to know more about what technology was used to create Radar.

Look for the little Radar image at the bottom left of the NoradSanta.org site

Radar is a specialized AI Chat Bot. It was initially created using the Custom Question Answering service which is a feature of the Azure AI suite. You can find out more about building your own interactive question and answer experience using Azure at What is custom question answering? - Azure AI services | Microsoft Learn.

However, the newest standout feature of Radar is its ability to translate text on the fly, allowing for seamless multilingual interactions. Whether you're asking about Santa's current location or the history of NORAD's Santa tracking, Radar can provide answers in your preferred language.

Samples of Radar's responses in multiple languages

Until this latest update, Radar only worked in English, but a small addition allowed for a huge change in abilities. Radar is so adaptable due to the addition of translation to the conversation. The flow is as follows:

For each message:

Detect message language and remember this language
Not English? - Translate to English
Get response from Custom Question Answering service
Translate to initially detected language if it wasn't English
Send response to user

This design means that a preferred language never needs to be set or stored and a single session with Radar can include multiple languages. Users can change their language while chatting with Radar at any time. Ask the same question in multiple languages and Radar will adjust accordingly, ensuring that you can switch languages to one of your preferences without any hassle.

This implementation was inspired by BotBuilder-Samples/samples/csharp_dotnetcore/17.multilingual-bot at main · microsoft/BotBuilder-Samples · GitHub. “This bot has been created using Bot Framework, it shows how to translate incoming and outgoing text using a custom middleware and the Microsoft Translator Text API.” With this implementation, you don’t need the expertise or invest the time to build a language model for the individual language and maintain later. It relies on the Text Translator API to easily integrate multilingual capabilities in the existing design, some of the advantages considered were:

Ease of Integration
Real-Time Translation
Accuracy and Quality
Wide Language Support
Scalability
Use latest Updates and Improvements
Adjust pricing tiers based on traffic

With Radar the Elf, the NORAD Santa Tracker is more accessible and user-friendly than ever before. So, get ready to track Santa in any of 133 languages and enjoy a magical holiday season with NORAD and Microsoft Azure and Azure Maps.

Discover the Power of HD Isochrones in Azure Maps Route Range API

cschotte — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:08:59 GMT

In the ever-evolving world of location-based services (LBS), precision and accuracy are key. Whether you're planning business expansions, optimizing logistics, or enhancing urban mobility, understanding travel times and accessibility is essential. Enter isochrones—a revolutionary way to visualize areas reachable within a given travel time.

Azure Maps, Microsoft’s comprehensive geospatial platform, has taken isochrone generation to the next level with its updated Route Range API. Featuring HD isochrone support and specialized truck routing capabilities, this powerful API is set to transform how businesses and planners make data-driven decisions.

Why Isochrones Matter

Isochrones provide a dynamic alternative to traditional fixed-distance buffers. Instead of simply drawing a circle around a location, isochrones map out the actual area that can be reached within a certain time frame. This approach takes into account real-world factors like road networks, traffic conditions, and different modes of transportation.

For example, a retail chain can use isochrones to determine how far customers can travel to a store within 15 minutes, while a logistics company might analyze delivery times for different service areas. This real-time, time-based insight enables more informed decisions across industries.

Unlocking Precision with HD Isochrones

The new HD isochrone functionality in the Azure Maps Route Range API offers significantly higher resolution and detail. This means you can generate highly precise maps of reachable areas for time intervals ranging from minutes to several hours (up to 10 million seconds!).

Picture a city planner evaluating the impact of a new transit line: with HD isochrones, they can visualize how accessibility to key destinations improves over various time periods. Or imagine a franchise business assessing the best location for its next store—now, they can precisely map out the potential trade area based on realistic travel times.

Specialized Capabilities for Truck Routing

One of the standout features of the updated API is its advanced truck routing support. Unlike standard car-based routing, truck routing considers a host of additional factors:

Vehicle dimensions and weight restrictions: Ensures routes comply with height, width, and weight limits.
Hazardous materials restrictions: Avoids roads where certain materials are prohibited.
Truck-specific road features: Avoiding tunnels or bridges.

These capabilities are invaluable for logistics companies managing fleets. By generating truck-specific isochrones, businesses can optimize delivery routes, reduce fuel costs, and improve on-time performance—all while ensuring compliance with local regulations.

For example, a distribution center might use truck isochrones to determine how far deliveries can reach within a specified time window, considering truck-specific constraints. This insight can help optimize delivery zones, improve service levels, and even reduce the environmental impact of operations.

Transforming Business Decisions with Isochrones

The power of HD isochrones extends beyond logistics and retail. Urban planners can leverage them to design more efficient public transportation networks, ensuring that key services like healthcare and education are accessible within reasonable travel times. City governments can simulate the effects of road closures or new infrastructure projects, minimizing disruptions and improving traffic flow.

Franchise owners, on the other hand, can use isochrones to better understand customer reach and minimize cannibalization—the overlap between existing and new store locations. By analyzing travel times and customer access, businesses can strategically expand without diluting their market share.

Bringing It All Together

Imagine a logistics manager planning delivery routes from a central warehouse. Using the Azure Maps Route Range API, they can generate a truck-specific isochrone for a 60-minute delivery window. Here's how it works:

Sample Request

POST https://atlas.microsoft.com/route/range?api-version=2024-07-01-preview

{ "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ // Warehouse location 5.86605, 50.9745 ] }, "properties": { "timeBudgetInSec": 3600, // 1 hour in seconds "travelMode": "truck", // Truck mode for routing "vehicleSpec": { "height": 4.2, // Height of the vehicle in meters (13.5 feet) "length": 22 , // Length of the vehicle in meters (72 feet) "width": 2.6 // Width of the vehicle in meters (8.5 feet) } } }

What Happens Next?

The API returns a detailed geoJSON file outlining the area accessible within an hour. This data can be visualized on a map, providing a clear picture of delivery zones. The manager can adjust operations to maximize coverage while ensuring that all regulatory and safety requirements are met.

Start Exploring Today

With its updated Route Range API, Azure Maps is setting a new standard for geospatial analysis. From precision trade areas to optimized logistics, the possibilities are vast. Whether you're in retail, logistics, urban planning, or beyond, HD isochrones and truck routing can help you make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Curious to see how these features can benefit your organization? Explore the official documentation to get started today!

Snap to Roads is now available for Azure Maps

cschotte — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:40:46 GMT

We’re thrilled to introduce the Snap to Roads API in Azure Maps, a powerful API designed to transform raw GPS data into precise road-aligned coordinates. This new capability is a game-changer for businesses managing fleets and mobile assets, delivering the accuracy and context needed for efficient operations.

Whether your GPS data is impacted by weak signals or environmental obstructions, the Snap to Roads API ensures your tracking is precise. By aligning GPS points with real-world roads and enriching them with additional data like speed limits and street names, it provides the clarity and insights you need for informed decision-making.

Why Snap to Roads Matters

If you’ve ever struggled with analyzing GPS traces that zigzag across the map or deviate from the road, you know how frustrating it can be. The Snap to Roads API addresses these issues head-on. It not only maps your GPS points to the nearest roads but also interpolates missing data to create a smooth, accurate path.

This has significant implications for fleet management. For instance, you can verify speed limit compliance, detect route deviations, and better estimate travel times. These insights lead to improved resource management, heightened driver safety, and, ultimately, happier customers.

How It Works

The Snap to Roads API processes GPS data to return road-aligned coordinates along with enriched information. Here’s a simple example to illustrate its capabilities:

Sample API Call:
POST https://atlas.microsoft.com/route/snapToRoads?api-version=2024-07-01-preview

{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "coordinates": [ -122.336729, 47.590868 ], "type": "Point" }, "properties": {} }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "coordinates": [ -122.336042, 47.601604 ], "type": "Point" }, "properties": {} } ], "includeSpeedLimit": true, "travelMode": "driving" }

Response:

{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "coordinates": [ -122.336769, 47.590885 ], "type": "Point" }, "properties": { "inputIndex": 0, "name": "WA-99 N", "speedLimitInKilometersPerHour": 80 } }, { "type": "Feature", "geometry": { "coordinates": [ -122.336008, 47.601609 ], "type": "Point" }, "properties": { "inputIndex": 1, "name": "WA-99 N", "speedLimitInKilometersPerHour": 80 } } ] }

In this example, the Snap to Roads API aligns the GPS points to the nearest road, providing interpolated points to fill in gaps and speed limit data for each segment.

Consider a delivery company managing a large fleet. Drivers report delays due to unclear routing, and GPS traces often show vehicles cutting across buildings or parks. By integrating the Snap to Roads API, the company can ensure all GPS data aligns with actual roadways, providing a clear picture of each vehicle’s journey.

This helps in multiple ways:

Monitoring Driver Compliance: Ensuring drivers adhere to speed limits and follow designated routes.
Optimizing Delivery Routes: Identifying bottlenecks and optimizing routes for faster deliveries.
Improving Customer Experience: Providing accurate ETAs and real-time location updates to customers.

Going Beyond: The Power of Azure Maps

Snap to Roads is just one piece of the puzzle. Azure Maps offers a comprehensive suite of APIs for managing complex logistics operations. From Truck Routing that considers vehicle dimensions and restrictions to the Distance Matrix API for calculating optimal routes between multiple locations, Azure Maps equips you with everything you need for intelligent fleet management.

Try It Today

Experience the Snap to Roads API and see how it can transform your fleet operations. Get started by checking out the tutorial and dive into the full API documentation.
With Azure Maps, you’re not just tracking vehicles—you’re unlocking insights and driving efficiency like never before.

Introducing the Data-Bound Reference Layer in Azure Maps Visual for Power BI

cschotte — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:03:27 GMT

Imagine managing a nationwide sales team and needing to understand how your sales align with factors like population density, competitor locations, or even regional weather patterns. Visualizing this data on a map offers powerful insights—not only showing where your team is excelling but also uncovering new market opportunities. Now, with the Data-Bound Reference Layer feature in the Azure Maps visual for Power BI, you can achieve this level of insight, blending geographic and business data for enriched decision-making.

What is the Data-Bound Reference Layer?

The Data-Bound Reference Layer is an advanced capability that enables users to bind their data directly to custom reference layers in the Azure Maps visual. Think of it as adding a multi-dimensional view to your Power BI maps. With support for data from multiple sources, such as Shapefiles, GeoJSON, and many more datasets, users can create a fully customizable, data-driven map that renders polygons based on live data.

This reference layer acts as a “contextual overlay” on your map. Standard data points in Power BI visuals highlight locations, but the Data-Bound Reference Layer goes further, allowing you to visualize additional insights, such as demographic boundaries, sales territories, or high-priority zones. What used to be a static, single-dimension map can now become an interactive, fully adaptable visualization that changes as your data does, providing real-time insights as conditions evolve.

Conditional Formatting: Making Data Pop

The power of the Data-Bound Reference Layer extends with conditional formatting, which allows you to style maps dynamically based on your data values. Colors, shapes, and sizes can be tailored to specific data thresholds, making it easier to spot trends, outliers, and areas needing immediate attention.

For instance, in disaster response, a map showing hospital densities can use conditional formatting to highlight regions with lower hospital coverage in a distinct color, or adjust opacity to signify areas with infrastructure vulnerabilities. This provides instant, actionable insight for responders to prioritize their resources where they are most needed.

Dynamic URL Sources: Adapting Layers to Changing Conditions

With dynamic URL capabilities, you can use Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to set URLs for reference layers that adapt based on data conditions. This is perfect for scenarios requiring responsive maps, such as tracking different data sets by user selection. For example, by dynamically linking product performance across regions, reference layers can shift in real-time to reflect selected categories, giving you highly interactive and relevant visualizations.

How to Get Started with Data-Bound Reference Layers

Enable Azure Maps in Power BI: Confirm that Azure Maps is enabled within your Power BI environment, so you can start incorporating spatial data into your reports.
Add a Data-Bound Reference Layer: Navigate to the Azure Maps visual in Power BI, and upload your reference data in supported formats, like GeoJSON or Shapefiles, as a new layer.
Apply Conditional Formatting: Customize the appearance of each layer using color gradients, transparency, or sizing, aligning your map’s visual cues with data values and thresholds for immediate clarity.
Interact and Analyze: Like other Power BI visuals, Azure Maps allows for interactivity, so you can zoom in on specific areas, compare data layers, and uncover insights directly within your map.

Real-World Example: Retail Site Selection

Imagine a retailer evaluating new store locations. By overlaying demographic and income data as reference layers, they can quickly assess regions with high potential. With conditional formatting, income levels above a certain threshold could display in one color, while lower income areas display in another, making it easy to spot regions with high purchasing power. This data-driven approach allows them to pinpoint the most promising sites for expansion, maximizing investment in the right areas.

Unlock Deeper Insights with Azure Maps and Power BI

The Data-Bound Reference Layer in Azure Maps for Power BI elevates map-based reporting by allowing users to visually explore, understand, and act on their data. This feature enables new possibilities for data analysts, business leaders, and decision-makers reliant on spatial insights—whether optimizing logistics, selecting retail locations, or planning infrastructure projects. With the combined power of Azure Maps, Data-Bound Reference Layers, and Conditional Formatting, your maps can tell a more compelling story, driving smarter, more strategic business actions.

Take the next step in your data journey—let Azure Maps unlock a new level of insight in Power BI!

Enhance Azure Maps with Overture Maps Data using PMTiles!

cschotte — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:44:16 GMT

Supercharge Azure Maps with Overture Maps Data using PMTiles

We’ve got some exciting news. Azure Maps now supports PMTiles! This means you can overlay massive geospatial datasets on Azure Maps with incredible efficiency and ease. PMTiles lets your data-intensive mapping applications access large datasets seamlessly, without the need to load the entire dataset on the client side. The result? Faster performance and more powerful, responsive mapping applications on Azure Maps.

What exactly are PMTiles?

Think of PMTiles as a supercharged ZIP file for tiled data. It’s a single-file archive format that consolidates numerous individual tiles into one neat package. This makes storage a breeze and managing your data way simpler compared to juggling thousands of small files.

PMTiles are perfect for cloud-native deployments and can be hosted on Azure Blob Storage. This means you can build low-cost, serverless map applications without needing a custom backend or third-party tile provider. With PMTiles, you can directly request data from the file over HTTP, accessing specific map tiles without any intermediaries. Whether you’re dealing with vector data, raster data, or terrain mesh data, PMTiles has got you covered.

How to create PMTiles

If you’re looking to create PMTiles for vector data, Tippecanoe is your go-to tool. It produces optimized vector tiles for visualization, simplifying or removing small features at low zoom levels to keep the tiles compact and manageable. This ensures a smooth user experience on the client side.

Displaying and Using PMTiles on Azure Maps

Azure Maps now supports custom protocols like pmtiles:// for referencing PMTiles archives. By using this custom protocol, Azure Maps can access tiles within a PMTiles archive using HTTP range requests, fetching only the data you need when you need it. To get started with PMTiles, the Azure Maps Web SDK offers the addProtocol function. This registers a callback that intercepts and modifies requests, allowing PMTiles data to be processed dynamically for rendering on the map.

Here’s a quick guide to setting up PMTiles support:

Reference the PMTiles Library:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/pmtiles@3.0.5/dist/pmtiles.js"></script>

Initialize the PMTiles Protocol:

const protocol = new pmtiles.Protocol();
atlas.addProtocol("pmtiles", (request) => {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        protocol.tile(request, (err, data) => {
            if (err) reject(err);
            else resolve({ data });
        });
    });
});

This setup registers the pmtiles:// schema, enabling Azure Maps to process requests specifically for PMTiles sources.

Add and Configure PMTiles Data Source: Use the following example to overlay Overture Maps’ building data on top of the Azure Maps basemap:
```
const PMTILES_URL = "https://overturemaps-tiles-us-west-2-beta.s3.amazonaws.com/2024-07-22/buildings.pmtiles";
protocol.add(new pmtiles.PMTiles(PMTILES_URL));

map.sources.add(new atlas.source.VectorTileSource("pmtiles", {
    type: "vector",
    url: `pmtiles://${PMTILES_URL}`,
}));
```
This code defines a vector tile source that uses the PMTiles URL. The map then dynamically fetches only the tiles that the user’s view requires, improving both performance and data usage.

What is Overture Maps?

Overture Maps is an open data project launched in 2022 by a coalition led by the Linux Foundation. Supported by Meta, Microsoft, AWS, and TomTom, this initiative aims to provide reliable, interoperable geospatial data for the public. The Overture Maps Foundation aggregates open and commercial datasets, offering a unified schema that makes it easier to work with geospatial data across different platforms and applications.

Each dataset in Overture Maps is organized by themes that classify different types of geospatial information, like building footprints, roads, water bodies, and points of interest. This thematic organization ensures a structured approach to incorporating diverse types of location data, making it accessible for developers across various projects.

With PMTiles support in Azure Maps, we can’t wait to see how you’ll use this capability to power dynamic and data-rich applications. Stay tuned for more updates, and start integrating PMTiles into your Azure Maps applications to unlock new potential with Overture Maps data today!

Where do I go if I have questions about Azure Maps?

IoTGirl — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 20:23:41 GMT

As you might expect, just looking around on your own, or asking Co-pilot, you can find comprehensive help like Samples.AzureMaps.com, with its full sample set available on GitHub, and resources for Azure Maps on the Microsoft Learn website. Here are some key sections that might be useful:

Azure Maps Documentation: This includes detailed guides on how to use Azure Maps, from creating a web application to managing authentication and pricing tiers.
Quickstart Guides: These guides help you get started quickly with interactive map searches and other basic functionalities.
Overview of Azure Maps: This section provides an overview of the services and SDKs available in Azure Maps, including REST APIs, geolocation services, and more.
Azure Maps Open Source Projects: This section takes you to our open source community samples. Please don't forget to use the "issues" tab in GitHub to give the sample owner your feedback.

If you need more individual personalized support, you can also explore the Azure Support Options. However, you don't need to go it alone!

If you do not have a Support plan or just want to have some questions answered, why not check out one or more of the following public Microsoft community supported options?

Microsoft's Q&A Forums These are monitored by both Microsoft MVPs as well as Microsoft Employees that are there to answer your questions regarding multiple Microsoft products, not just Maps. You can find existing questions and answers around Azure Maps and ask new ones at Azure Maps - Microsoft Q&A.

Microsoft Fabric Community Is also staffed by both Microsoft MVPs and Employees but also has a very active community that supports other community members. Using a Map control in Power BI and have questions? Ask in the Power BI forum and use the Search bar to look for existing questions on "Maps".

Microsoft Answers Covers all software and OS offerings at Microsoft. If you are using Outlook, Windows or have a question about Bing, they, and many more Microsoft Products, are all available here.

Microsoft Ideas Do you have a feature request for a Microsoft Product or Service? Add them here for each product team to review your idea for their next update.

Microsoft Azure Maps Feedback: Did you find something wrong on the map? Missing address or something in the wrong location? Report it using Azure Maps feedback!

Last but not least, if you have non-technical questions, such as Azure's "Only pay for what you use" pricing, you can use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate your cost as you would for all other Azure products. Also, check out Microsoft.com/maps for a high-level view of what we have to offer, and you can reach out to our helpful sales team from that site.