bing maps cost money?

Question

I am building a new web site in asp.net, and im newbie with using maps.
For my web site i will need the following functionality:

1. display a map of specific location.
   • display route map between two or more location
   • calculate distance between 2 locations.

I found most of the functionality at the Bing Maps interactive SDK site: and it works fine.

My questions are:

1. does it cost money to use this SDK ?
   • for the third task, i understand that i will have to use MapPoint Services.
     (is there another way??) does it code money to use it?

I will really appreciate it if you dont send me links, cause my english is not the best one...

thanks a lot

Answer 1

It sounds like you're at the decision making stage of your project and weighing up the pros and cons of various frameworks. Due the nature of developing commercial applications using maps (supplied by Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other map provider), it might be an idea to code against a library called MapStraction.

It allows you to easily swap and change map providers depending on commercial and/or customer requirements. It also provides a consistent interface so changing your map provider half way through the project isn't a big deal.

Answer 2

Have a look at using OpenStreetMap. It's completely free, and so far I have been very impressed with it. In my area, it's more accurate and detailed than Google Maps.

In the UK, Ordnance Survey maps are also free.