ThinkGeo wants you to be completely confident in your decision to purchase our products. To assist you with your purchase decision, here are a few of the most frequently asked questions we receive about the Map Suite World Map Kit SDK extension.

The World Map Kit SDK extension provides you with the capability to add customized, detailed worldwide basemaps to your application, website or app while giving you the capability to host it yourself.

Both versions of the World Map Kit, Online and SDK, include the same complete sets of street-level world map data and professional design logic that give you the ability to customize your maps and makes them look great. However, Aerial and Hybrid imagery is only available with World Map Kit Online. If you are interested in this imagery in the SDK, please call us at 1-866-847-7510.

Another difference between the two lies in the intended use of each product:

• The World Map Kit SDK is an extension for the ThinkGEO line of Map Suite GIS mapping tools. Our GIS software gives you the ability to add world maps into your applications using Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. Additionally, because the World Map Kit SDK comes with full source code, you can completely customize the look and feel of the maps or even add your own data to the mix. The World Map Kit SDK software requires .NET development experience.
• The World Map Kit Online is the easiest way to gain access to the complete global dataset of the World Map Kit software directly over the Internet. The Internet access gives you access to the powerful functionality without needing to install anything or maintain your own servers. ThinkGeo hosts the World Map Kit Online on our own servers, making it easier for you. All you need to do to get started is to connect your applications in order to begin receiving great map imagery of any place on Earth. To get started, simply pay an annual fee to access our continually updated watermark-free maps and begin creating customized mapping applications.

To get a better idea of what the maps look like out of the box, visit our online demo. Please be aware that Aerial and Hybrid imagery is not available in the World Map Kit SDK. If you are interested in this imagery, please call us at 1-866-847-7510.

Yes. From within the ThinkGeo Product Center you can download the World Map Kit SDK source code and a data sample database covering Las Vegas, Nevada.

ThinkGeo’s World Map Kit SDK data is based on crowd sourced data from OpenStreetMap. We chose OpenStreetMap due to it's detailed coverage across the entire world, the ability for anyone to update the map and its open licensing.

In a nutshell – the difference is the customization and ease of use provided by the World Map SDK. Countless hours have been spent developing the rendering logic for each zoom level, optimizing the map dataset, and making sure the best cartography is used to produce the most attractive map possible.

Along with great customer service and free data updates for one year, your purchase of ThinkGeo’s Map Suite World Map Kit SDK, you'll also receive:

Downloadable 100+ GB of optimized SQLite data set covering the entire globe A sample application that shows you how to integrate the Map Suite World Map Kit into your application with only a few lines of code Source code for the rendering class to control the zoom levels, colors, and other rendering techniques for the map data set A data extractor utility that allows you to trim down if you are only interested in a specific area How difficult is it to integrate the Map Suite World Map Kit SDK into my application? It's very easy and only takes a few lines of code to integrate the World Map Kit into your application. The sample application included in the product download provides code examples of how to add the World Map SDK to your project.

Yes. The World Map Kit SDK is the only edition of the World Map Kit that gives you all of the source code to the rendering logic, so you are free to modify the look and feel of the maps to meet your needs. Yes. With the World Map Kit SDK, we provide you with source code to the rendering class so that you can easily add in your own mapping data.

As long as your Software Assurance or membership subscription with ThinkGeo is current, you’ll receive access to yearly data updates. More frequent updates are available. If interested, please contact our Account Management Team to discuss the options available.

Technical FAQ's can be found on the World Map Kit SDK wiki pages. Also feel free to post any questions in our World Map Kit discussion forum. The ThinkGeo community forums are monitored and managed by our development staff in order to provide detailed and technical answers when you need them.