[GIS] Is it possible to access the Bing Maps “dark” mode in the ArcGIS JS API

arcgis-javascript-apibing-mapsstamen

Stamen Designs have made a beautiful Hurricane Tracker application which uses a "dark" mode of the Bing Maps backdrop.

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This is perfect for directing people's attention to the overlay rather than the background.

Is it possible to access this "dark" version of Bing Maps within the ArcGIS Server JS API?

Best Answer

I don't know the ins-and-outs of the ArcGIS JS API but I can tell you that the MSNBC Hurricane Map uses Flash's ColorMatrixFilter and ColorTransform to invert and desaturate the Bing tiles on the fly.

I'm pretty sure that's not possible with JS in a cross-browser way. You might have some success if the Bing tiles are served with cross-domain (CORS) permissions and if the ArcGIS API allows you to render tiles using the HTML canvas element. Or perhaps you could proxy the tiles and modify them server-side, but you'd have to check the Bing terms before doing that, of course.

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[GIS] Does the Bing Maps API have a distance to coast service

I know this is an old question, but there is now a Distance to Coast REST API: http://www.kbgeo.com. Given a latitude and longitude it returns the distance to the nearest coastal point and what that point is. JSON response:

{
  "distanceInMiles": 702.4893212372758,
  "targetPoint": {
    "lat": 43.045583,
    "lng": -89.3799951
  },
  "coastlinePoint": {
    "lat": 38.662389,
    "lng": -77.236111
  }
}

There's a live demo page at http://demo.kbgeo.com.

Disclosure: I wrote this API and therefore have a vested interest. However, it does match OP's needs. Another API that does the same thing is maprisk.com.

[GIS] Does Bing Maps have a 3D mode

It was abandoned in favor of "Bird's eye everywhere."

Best Answer

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