One of the new powerful features found in the latest preview release of the Bing Maps V8 Web control is Clustering module – a new function for clustering data points displayed on the map – and a new post has been published on the Bing blog, detailing the usage of this new feature.
The feature works by grouping pushpins – or representations of data on a map, one of the capabilities of Bing Maps Web control – into “clusters” for easy navigation, since too much data can result in too many pushpins that covers the map. Clustering can be added to any app as a part of the map feature via a few lines of code.
The clusters will be represented by pushpins with numbers inside to indicate the number of contained pushpins; users can zoom in to get a detailed view of the pushpins. Moreover, developers can give a bit more character to their clusters with a variety of customization options, including displaying images to represent clusters, or making shape-changing icons whose size corresponds to the number of pushpins in the clusters.
Overall, pushpin is a very useful feature of Bing Maps Web control for data-driven apps with map capabilities, and the new Clustering module introduced in V8 should greatly improve user experience.
Image credits: Bing blog
