Introducing the Data-Bound Reference Layer in Azure Maps Visual for 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.Using Location Data to Gain Insights with Azure Maps
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.How Route Optimization APIs Help Streamline Logistics Operations
Logistics is an industry that could arguably benefit the most from route optimization APIs. Whether you’re managing a fleet of trucks, ships, airplanes, or even two-wheelers, quality routing that takes into account historical and real-time data can do a lot to make life easier for the drivers to the operators and right up to the business leaders. With access to the right route optimization APIs, you can link in a whole host of services that not just improve the experience for your drivers and schedulers but can create a tangible difference to your bottom line.From Zero to Hero: Building Your First Location-Based App Using Azure Maps APIs
Getting Started You’ll need to first create an Azure account if you don’t have an Azure subscription yet. This process is completely free and takes less than five minutes. Create a free Azure account. Head over to the Azure portal and select Create a resource. Select Azure Maps from the drop-down list and hit the Create button. You’ll be redirected to the Create an Azure Maps account page. Here, you can select your subscription, pricing tier, account name, and other details. Once you’ve created your Azure Maps account, click on Authentication in your Azure portal to access your Primary key. You’re ready to build location-based apps! For a more in-depth look at the sign-up process, please visit our Quickstart guide. Building is easier with the Azure Maps Web SDK The Azure Maps Web SDK provides an intuitive way to build location-based services and integrate mapping functionalities into your web pages and apps. The Map Control, for example, allows developers to easily customize maps with their own assets. Whether you’re looking to embed a simple map in a web page or build mapping functionalities into an iOS or Android app, the Azure Maps SDK has you covered. All you need for location-based app development is an Azure Maps account and a subscription key. Once you have your key, you can reference the Azure Maps Map Control directly in the HTML file when you’re building a location-based app. Check out our store locator tutorial for a closer look, which includes detailed code samples. Must-have features for your app Global search capabilities The search and geocoding functionalities provided by our maps API platform are essential building blocks for many location-based solutions. The Azure Maps Search API excels at handling fuzzy search queries, meaning it can understand and return relevant results even with typos, incomplete addresses, or variations in place names. The ability to accommodate a certain amount of user error allows developers to vastly improve the overall user experience by adding a single, simple feature. A reliable location-based app needs to deliver precise results not just for one region or country, but everywhere. The Azure Maps Search API provides truly global coverage, giving your users the power to navigate with precision no matter where they’re located. Geocoding: an essential building block Geocoding and reverse geocoding are both essential parts of location-based app development, allowing developers to turn street addresses into longitude and latitude coordinates, and vice versa. The Geocoding REST API supports both of these functionalities. You can call the Geocoding API with a simple HTTP request: GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/geocode?api-version=2023-06-01 This HTTP request can further be modified depending on what your location-based app needs using a variety of different URL parameters. For example, you can define a bounding box using coordinates to take a specific geographic area into account when sending a location query. Harness location intelligence Azure Maps allows developers to harness true location intelligence to build location-aware apps that can react to spatial context and provide personalized experiences. Think of a grocery-ordering app that automatically detects the user’s location and offers an accurate inventory based on the location of the nearest fulfillment center. The Geolocation API gives you the ability to localize your services. You can integrate this API with your location-based app using another HTTP call. Calling this API using a specific IP address will return an ISO code denoting its country of origin. As a developer, you have the freedom to combine these APIs in different ways to suit your location-based app development needs. For example, you can use the Map Control to display a simple map in your app. This map can then be personalized based on the user’s location through the Geolocation API, displaying points of interest in a language relevant to the user’s region. Developer resources From the minute you sign up, Azure Maps gives you access to a wealth of developer resources covering virtually everything you need to build apps with geospatial data. You’re never really starting from zero when you build with Azure Maps APIs. Documentation: The Azure Maps documentation base is comprehensive, up-to-date, and covers topics catering to various skill levels. You can get the most out of these location-aware APIs even if you’ve never built a location-based app before. Code Sample Gallery: Our code samples are accessible to every developer, even if they haven’t signed up for an Azure Maps account yet. You can visit the code sample gallery and run each sample yourself to see what each API can do. It’s a great way to check whether a certain functionality will be a good fit for the app you’re developing. Build your first app with Azure Maps An Azure Maps account and subscription key are all you need to build your first location-based app. Get inspired with the code sample gallery and start building for free by signing up for Azure Maps today.
