RadMap Performance

[Jonathan Boylan]

Hello,

We've noticed a distinct degradation in the performance of the RadMap control from the 2011 Q1 release when displaying large polygon shapes in an Information Layer.

When a map zoom is initiated, it can take minutes before the application finishes the zoom operation and becomes responsive again. The shapes [from a shape file] are world regions (Contiental Europe, North America, Africa, etc) and worked OK with 2010 Q3 release.

At the moment it looks as though we will not be able to upgrade our application to this release!!!

Here's the xaml:

<telerik:RadMap x:Name="RadMap1"
Background="#D9E1FF"
BorderBrush="Black"
BorderThickness="1"
UseDefaultLayout="True"
MouseClickMode="None"
MouseDoubleClickMode="None">

<telerik:RadMap.Provider>
<telerik:OpenStreetMapProvider x:Name="OpenStreetMapProvider" ></telerik:OpenStreetMapProvider>
</telerik:RadMap.Provider>

<telerik:InformationLayer x:Name="InformationLayer">
<telerik:InformationLayer.Reader>
<telerik:MapShapeReader Source="../ShapeFiles/Regions.shp"
DataSource="../ShapeFiles/Regions.dbf" SourceType="ShapeFile" ToolTipFormat="Name" />
</telerik:InformationLayer.Reader>

<telerik:InformationLayer.ShapeFill>
<telerik:MapShapeFill Fill="#FFF7DE" Stroke="#5A636B" StrokeThickness="0" />
</telerik:InformationLayer.ShapeFill>

<telerik:InformationLayer.HighlightFill>
<telerik:MapShapeFill Fill="#F7E7BD" Stroke="#5A636B" StrokeThickness="0" />
</telerik:InformationLayer.HighlightFill>

</telerik:InformationLayer>

</telerik:RadMap>

[Jonathan Boylan]

Maybe it has something to do with this fix?

[Andrey]

Hi Jonathan Boylan,

We've made many changes in the information layer since 2010 Q3 release. All changes were made to make zooming smooth and remove unwanted effects like object floating and shaking when zooming. The most significant changes which affect performance were made just a week after 2010.Q3 release and were included into the 2010.Q3 SP1. We have quite complex shape files in our examples, but none takes  minutes to zoom. Could you, please, provide your shape file so we could check its complexity?     

Kind regards,
Andrey Murzov
the Telerik team

[CD]

I also have a shapefile over a basemap and noticed the poor zooming performance with the Q1 2011 version.
You can view the demos and see this as well.

2011 map demo

Compare that with the Q3 2010 demo (the zooming in that version is smooth).

[Andrey]

Hello Curt,

Zooming in the original 2010 Q3 (without SP1) was faster but we had a lot of unwanted effects like object floating and shaking when zooming. Most of our customers claimed they did not like these effects and requested for slow but precise and free of object floating and shaking zooming. It was done in the 2010 Q3 SP1.

Since then, we've made significant improvements in performance of the RadMap on the complex shapes. We've decreased initial load time for complex map shapes and made zooming faster when complex map shapes are in use.

These changes are available in the latest internal build, so you can rebuild our examples locally using DLLs from the latest build and compare it with the one available on our site. You will see that even "United States" example you've referred to is working faster (it contains not so complex shapes). But most impressive it is on the "World Continents" example (http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#Map/Shapefile/WorldContinents) and "World Countries" example (http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#Map/Shapefile/World) which use quite complex shapes.

All the best,
Andrey Murzov
the Telerik team

[CD]

Thank you for the update Andrey.

[Service]

Hi Andrey,

Regarding to the demos, the zoom in and out performance is not good, it's very jerky.
We are using the RadMap for similar use and the testers are quite disappointed when they ask for zooming in and wait for about 10-20 seconds (!!!), according to zoom level requested, for completion.

We have a prototype of an application using the controls in trial mode in order to convince the managers to buy the required licences but with this issue (the only one we've found actually!), we are not quite persuasive.

Is there any workaround in order to make a smooth zoom or is it a thing that development team only can solve?

Regards,
RFI Development Team

[Jonathan Boylan]

Hello,

It looks like the latest internal build (Version 2011.1.530.1040) cures the zooming problem. It's taking about 4 seconds to zoom in and out with the large shapes overlayed on the map. The same shape file with the 2011 Q1 release version was taking about 2 and half minutes!

If these changes make it into 2011 Q2, then we'll be happy ;-)

Jonathan

[Andrey]

Hello Jonathan Boylan,

All performance improvement which are available in the latest internal build will be available in the 2011 Q2 release.

All the best,
Andrey Murzov
the Telerik team