Pretty Xaml and Search

The Silverlight Virtual Earth/Google Maps tile client v0.9 now has a few more features:

• Search box to 'geocode' a search term and set the map to that location (eg. search for sydney cricket ground or london eye)
• Search also accepts latitude, longitude coordinates (searching for 51.505,0.0 will get you pretty close to Greenwich)
• Xaml controls for the map type, pan and zoom controls

Note that the search results currently default to map zoom '9' -- you should see the flag marker on the map in the top-left -- simply select zoom 14/15/16 to get closer to your target. This will be updated in a future version.

Xaml tidbit: I expected to have to draw a custom path for the round-corner-rectangles, but turns out that is a supported shape-type... drawing them is as simple as

<Path xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Fill="#88000066" Stretch="Fill" Stroke="#444444FF" Width="130" Height="65">
<Path.Data> <RectangleGeometry Rect="10,50,130,65" RadiusX="5" RadiusY="5" /> </Path.Data> </Path>

where the RadiusX and RadiusY attributes add the rounded corners.

UPDATE: one of the 'fun' things about being able to switch between Google and Microsoft maps is seeing the differences in imagery. Here is Millenium Park (Chicago) in Google (under construction) and Virtual Earth (finished!):