MapQuest Developer Network Blog

DevNet Next

MapQuest is happy to announce the launch of a completely rebuilt and revised MapQuest Developer Network. Our goal is to make it easy for the growing development community to get started with the MapQuest Platform and for experienced developers to find what info they need fast.

What's New

Documentation Made Easy

Our new Web Services and upcoming 6.0 SDKs will have a simpler and concise set of documentation so you can view instructions, variables, samples, and source code all at-a-glance.

Consolidated Application Management

Your applications are now attached to MapQuest My Places. No more tracking multiple sets of credentials for the various MapQuest applications you manage. Access all of your account settings, tools, and resources from one place. If you were a user of our TRC, we've provided an easy way to migrate your accounts.

Reorganized Site; Cleaner Interface

Site content is now organized by product and technology, each with a dedicated forum to discuss topics with other developers. The site also has a cleaner look.

Check It Out

Please give our updated Developer Network a look and let us know what you think.

In recent weeks we've had a string of updates talking about new services and features we've been working on. Today we've got two new Web Services we're releasing into beta and a feature update for the Beta Directions Web Service.

Geocoding Web Service

We're jazzed to release the Geocoding Web Service into beta. You can now make a simple request containing an address and the service will return a latitude and longitude.

http://platform.beta.mapquest.com/geocode/v1/address
?location=lancaster%20pa
&key=YOUR_KEY_HERE


You can also make a request containing the Latitude and longitude and we'll tell you the address of that location.

http://platform.beta.mapquest.com/geocode/v1/reverse
?lat=40.0378
&lng=-76.305801
&key=YOUR_KEY_HERE


Static Map Web Service

While interactive and draggable maps are useful for many things, sometimes a good ol' single map image is what's needed for your application. While we've made these maps available for well over a decade, you can now build them using our new Static Map Web Service. This allows you to easily create, configure, and return a map image. this includes adding POI icons, traffic data, or shapes to you maps.

This also means you can easily embed a map into any web page without writing or embedding any code. Just insert the map like any other image.

http://platform.beta.mapquest.com/staticmap/v3/getmap
?type=map
&size=400,200
&zoom=7
&center=40.054600,-76.313100
&key=YOUR_KEY_HERE


Directions Web Service

Powered by our new Static Map Web Service, you can now return a static map image for each maneuver of a route narrative. Like on MapQuest.com, this will allow you to show your users a map containing additional detail of the transition to their route.

More information is available on our Developer Network Beta page and included in the MapQuest Platform: Web Services Documentation.

If you're a C# .NET developer and want to get started using the new MapQuest 5.3 API then you can get started today with the beta/release candidate version available on http://developer.mapquest.com/Beta.
Download the .NET library and start exploring.

From a .NET point of view not much has changed (yet) in the 5.3 API:
- The library has been renamed to mapquest20.dll to reflect that this is for .Net 2.0 and above only
- It has been tested with the 2.0 framework AND the 3.5 framework
- It has been tested with both 32-bit and 64-bit environments
- No interface changes have been made

Somewhere there is a map of how it can be done. - Ben Stein

In Part 1 I showed you how to get started with the MapQuest Advantage API by getting a developer key. In Part 2 I put that key to use by providing access to a basic map in the Map It! widget. In this installment I'll show you how to incorporate basic geocoding.

About Geocoding

Geocoding is the process of converting an address into latitude and longitude coordinates that uniquely identify a location, and you can use to plot on a map. Applications using the MapQuest Platform can calculate the latitude and longitude of:

• Street addresses and intersections, the highest accuracy geocoding methods.
• Street blocks, including the nearest block to an invalid house number.
• Postal codes, including ZIP, ZIP+2, and ZIP+4 codes.
• City centers.
• US state and Canadian province centers.
• Country centers.
• Centers of other administrative areas that are used internationally.

The Map It! application will allow users to enter an address in one of the following forms:

• street address, zip
• street address, city, state
• street address, city, state, zip
• street address, city, state, zip, country