A New Route for Bing Maps Developers

About 9 years ago, I started a little MapPoint Web Service blog targeted at helping Enterprise customers and developers build geospatial applications. Having run the consulting arm of Vicinity Corporation, overseeing the customer migration from Vicinity web services to Microsoft web services and spinning up an Evangelist role, I’d see the same questions over and over again.

The premise of my blogging started as a result of trying to eliminate writing the same email to different people multiple times over. After all, if one person had a question, it made sense that someone else was going to eventually ask the same question. So, I started publishing the info and allowing the search engines to index my content. My life was finally scalable! I took over consumer blogging for the Bing Maps (then Virtual Earth) website and content updates. I wrote with fleeing glory as I brought my coding efforts to the then Virtual Earth blog. I was stoked to see my coding entries in-line with imagery acquisition announcements, features releases and 3D updates.

Then I started working with an amazing PR Manager who taught me the value of timing “big” blog posts for outlet syndication. Okay, so I wouldn’t publish blogs at 2AM because I was so excited about finishing the code. And, she wanted to review the post before I published it, which took some getting used to. But listening to her was the best move I made, as she helped get the blog syndicated into news outlets, expanding the reach beyond what I’d ever expected.

So, why ramble on? Because I feel it’s an end of an era. I don’t post much on the blogs anymore, but I ensure there is a plan and strategy for the content. I should post more, and I plan to. Anyway, it is time again to change the blogging strategy. When once I thought never the two shall twain…it’s back to the future time.

As such, I want to welcome you to the new home of Bing Maps blog content for developers —  the Bing Dev Center. The Bing Dev Center is now the place for all developer-focused content about Bing Maps. Now, developer resources are living in one place so you can keep up with Bing Maps blog posts, check in on the forums and access controls and documentation downloads.

Bing Dev Center

The Bing Maps blog has been going strong for many years. We will continue to include updates on imagery refreshes, Maps App releases, and other Bing Maps news on the current Bing Maps blog. Technical content and posts specific to the developer audience will live on the Bing Maps Dev Center.

Bing Dev Center

To make sure you can easily find the content you care about during this transition, we will include short blurbs on the Bing Maps blog pointing you to any new technical content available on the Bing Dev Center.

We have an exciting year ahead with and plan to have a steady flow of Bing Maps content coming your way. Make sure to bookmark the Bing Maps Blog to get the latest and greatest from Bing Maps.

Chris Pendleton

Principal Program Manager Lead

Bing Maps