This is a simple list of the various resources available for your development needs.
Sign up for you developer account here:
https://mappoint-css.live.com/mwssignup
Official Microsoft:
- Virtual Earth API on MSDN
- Virtual Earth Interactive SDK
- Virtual Earth Forum on MSDN
- Microsoft MapPoint Web Service API on MSDN
- Silverlight Control CTP
- VIRTUAL EARTH SERVICE API TERMS OF USE
- Geographic Coverage Details
- Streetside Technology Preview
- Windows Live Maps for Mobile
- SQL Server 2008 Spatial Forum
Community sites:
Follow me on twitter for latest VE news as it happens: http://twitter.com/virtualearth
- Liveside.net – great news and articles about windows live
- Geoweb Guru – news and in depth Geo Articles
- MP2K – the magazine for MapPoint
Community Projects:
- WinForms Control – A must for anyone looking at using VE in a windows forms app.
- Silverlight Control – Open Source mapping control support VE Web Service.
- WPF / Surface Control – Open Source WPF control with support for the multi-touch Surface computer
- VE Intellisence – Intellisence for VS2008 for the AJAX control
- VE Toolkit – Extras for the AJAX control including MVC
- Virtual Earth Maps on SharePoint – Part of the larger Community Kit for SharePoint
ESRI:
Tools:
- Intellisence for Visual Studio 2008
- MSR MapCruncher for Virtual Earth
- Virtual Earth Location Finder
- Spatial Extensions for SQL Server 2005
- General Polygon Clipper library
- Determining if a point lies on the interior of a polygon
- Build your own URL for maps.live.com
Blogs:
Get all the VE blogs in one feed of the All blogs Aggregated
- Virtual Earth, a developer blog
- Virtual Earth 3D (msdn – 3d control code in c#)
- Virtual Earth For Government
- Hannes’s Virtual Earth Blog
- Virtual Earth Platform Blog
- Keith Kinnan Blog (VE Dev)
- Virtual Earth / Live Maps
- Heptazane’s Stump
- Soul Solutions
- Virtual Earth 3D (spaces)
- Ricky’s VE Blog
- Chris Pietschmann
- Mike Garza
- VirtualBirdseye
- Geoff Emery VE Blog
Exams:
Free GIS Data Sources:
- GeoCommons
- Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files
- Country Files (GNS)
- GeoNames Data Access
- U.S. Board on Geographic Names
Please let me know if I’m missing anything, I’ll repost this regularly (3 months) with the latest links.