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How to: Get a Bing Maps Key

  • 2 minutes to read

This document describes how to register a Bing Maps account and create a key to be able to use this map provider in your application.

If you connect your MapControl to Bing Maps using the BingMapDataProvider and don’t specify the valid Bing Maps key, you will get the following error:

“The specified Bing Maps key is invalid. To create a developer account, refer to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/create-a-bing-maps-key“

This error is shown in the image below.

InvalidBingMapsKey

The error message suggests visiting the official Microsoft web page devoted to Bing Maps. This page contains links to web resources, which are useful for map application developers. The page also suggests that you create a new account and get a developer key for it.

  • Open this web page in your favorite web browser:

    Bing Maps Portal

  • On this page, click the Sign In button.

    BingKey_WelcomePage

    Note

    You should have a Microsoft account to continue.

  • After that, you will need to login to your Microsoft account.

    SignInMicrosoftAccount

  • Fill in your account details and click Save.

    AccountDetails

  • Now you’ve registered a Bing Maps account and are ready to create a Bing Maps key for it. To do this, click My Keys.

    DevCenter_MyKeys

  • Now you should decide what Bing Maps key you require for your application. For more information on this, refer to the Getting a Bing Maps Key topic in MSDN, and also review Microsoft Bing Maps Platform APIs’ Terms of Use.
  • After you get your Bing Maps key, you should assign it to the BingMapDataProvider.BingKey property.

    BingMapDataProvider_BingKey

That’s all. For more information on using the Bing Maps service, please refer to the corresponding section in MSDN: Bing Maps.

See Also