====== Map Suite Installation Guide ======

Welcome to Map Suite™ from ThinkGeo, a complete family of GIS software development kits that will help you build cutting-edge mapping and spatially aware applications.  Using Map Suite's intuitive APIs, programmers who write code in C# or VB.NET can create professional-grade Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software featuring interactive maps, spatial analysis, geoprocessing and location, and much more.  Even developers inexperienced with GIS can add fully-functional maps to their projects in just moments.

In this article, we will discuss how to install Map Suite on your computer and prepare your development environment for creating Map Suite-powered projects.

===== System Requirements =====
  * Microsoft Windows 7 or newer, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or newer
  * Visual Studio or Visual Studio Community, 2012 or newer
  * .NET Framework 4.5 or higher
  * 1.2 GHz Intel® Core™ processor or better recommended
  * 2 GB RAM or more recommended
  * C#, Visual Basic .NET, and other .NET-compatible languages are supported for development


===== Environment Preparation =====
=== Install .NET Framework 4.5 ===
Map Suite requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or newer.

  * [[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653|Download the .NET 4.5 installer free from Microsoft]]

=== Install Visual Studio or Visual Studio Community ===
To develop an application with any Map Suite control or component, you will need one of the following development environments:

  * [[http://www.visualstudio.com/|Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or newer]]

===== Begin Your Development =====
Launch the ThinkGeo Product Center application to explore the exciting world of Map Suite GIS.  Each Map Suite edition ships with code samples, kick-start templates, videos and more to help you start developing your first application quickly!

Next, we recommend that you take a look at our [[ThinkGeo Product Center]] article to learn how to develop your application around the Product Center application.