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 WebAPI Edition on your computer and prepare your development environment for creating Map Suite-powered projects.

• Microsoft Windows 7 or newer, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or newer
• Visual Studio or Visual Studio Express, 2010 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
• For Map Suite WebAPI Edition:
  • ASP.NET MVC 4
  • Web API 2
  • Traditional ASPX or Razor ViewEngine

Map Suite WebAPI requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or newer.

• Download the .NET 4.5 web installer free from Microsoft

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

• Microsoft Visual Studio (2012 or 2013)
• Visual Studio Express
  • Select Visual Studio Express for Web if you want to develop web-based applications with Map Suite WebAPI Edition,Map Suite Web Edition, MVC Edition, Silverlight Edition or WMS Server Edition
  • Select Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop if you want to develop desktop applications, console apps or services with Map Suite WPF Desktop Edition, WinForms Desktop Edition, Services Edition, Map Suite Geocoder or Map Suite Routing

All of the Map Suite GIS developer controls are delivered through the ThinkGeo Product Center, a Windows application that serves as the central point for you to install, evaluate, purchase and activate Map Suite products. To begin using any Map Suite edition, such as MVC or WPF Desktop, you must first install Product Center.

1. Download the ThinkGeo Product Center.
2. Once the download is complete, double-click the .msi file to begin installation.

3. The installer window will appear. Click the “Next” button to proceed with the next step.

4. You will now be asked to accept the ThinkGeo software license agreement. Once you have read the license in its entirety, check the box at the bottom of the window and click “Next”.

5. On this step, choose the installation directory for the Product Center. Then, click “Next”.

6. Product Center is now ready to be installed. To proceed, click the “Install” button. At this point, you may be asked to enter credentials for an administrator account on Windows Vista / Server 2008 or higher. Make sure you say “Yes” to the User Account Control prompts, or the installation will not be able to continue.

7. The installation process will begin. It may take a few minutes for the Product Center to install and decompress all of its files. A blue bar will indicate its progress until this is complete. When the installation finishes successfully, you will be shown the following screen.

8. Click the “Finish” button to exit the installer. If the “Launch Product Center” checkbox is selected, the Product Center will open when the installer exits.