Layers
- 2 minutes to read
This document describes the purpose and types of layers that are used in a Map Control.
Layers are intended to draw data on a map and are stored in a LayerCollection returned by the MapControl.Layers property.
There are several types of layers:
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This layer should be used to draw maps that consist of image tiles. These image tiles are obtained by the ImageTilesLayer from one of the supported data providers - either Bing Maps or OpenStreetMap. The type of the current data provider is defined by the type of the object assigned to the ImageTilesLayer.DataProvider property of the layer.
Below is a screenshot of map images provided by Bing Maps for the ImageTilesLayer object.
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This layer should be used to present GIS elements above the map. These elements let end-users input information requests, which are passed to the corresponding GIS data providers, and then display the results of these requests above the Map control. The type of the current data provider is defined by the type of the object assigned to the InformationLayer.DataProvider property of the layer.
Below is a screenshot of a search panel that shows the results of a search request to the Bing Search information service.
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This layer should be used to draw vector elements on a map. These elements include predefined or custom vector elements, as well as shapes loaded from one of the supported shape file formats.
To provide settings for a specific shape loader, it is necessary to adjust settings returned by the VectorLayer.ShapeLoader property.
Below is a screenshot of shapes loaded from the Shapefile format by the VectorLayer object.