Spring 2011 Edition
This article as a PDF.
Access sophisticated mapping capabilities on Microsoft Windows Phone 7 with the new ArcGIS for Windows Phone app. With this app, find, use, and share maps as well as deploy GIS data and functionality. The free app can be downloaded directly from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace. ArcGIS for Windows Phone is a mobile gateway to the ArcGIS system. In addition to finding places and addresses and querying map layers and data, the app can collect, edit, and update features and attribute information for field data collection and inspection projects. Download and install the app from the desktop using Zune or install it directly from the phone using the Windows Phone Marketplace.
Esri has also released the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone. With this API, developers can build interactive applications that combine mapping resources, such as maps, locators, and geoprocessing models, with Windows Phone technologies and frameworks. Available at no cost from the ArcGIS Resource Center, this API is supported by a detailed blog, forum, and code samples.
Built on the Silverlight framework for the Windows Phone application platform, it uses familiar Microsoft tools and technologies such as Visual Studio and Expression Blend. Developers already familiar with Silverlight can create new applications for Windows phones without experiencing a steep learning curve. The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone and ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have the same architecture, so application logic can be reused in ArcGIS applications built for Windows Phone, web, and desktop applications.
The ArcGIS API for Windows Phone enables users to go beyond basic mapping. With this API, developers can build applications that use their own authoritative data, display data on an ArcGIS Online or Bing Maps basemap, add graphics and markups to a map interactively, search by GIS feature or attribute and display the results, and execute a GIS model using ArcGIS Server and display the results.
The API is designed to use web services available from ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online. Developers and Esri partners can build applications that work with their own published web services that can be deployed within an organization or to the public via the Marketplace.
To learn more about the ArcGIS for Windows Phone app, visit esri.com/windowsphone. To download and begin building custom applications using the ArcGIS API for Windows Phone, visit the ArcGIS Resource Center.
