Information layer vs Visualization layer

[Abder Rezak]

Hi,

I would like to know when Information Layer is preferred over Visualization Layer and vice versa.

Thank you !

[Andrey]

Hello Abder,

There are 2 visualization engines in the RadMap package.

The old implementation of the map objects' (points and shapes) visualization consists of 3 layers: InformationLayer, DynamicLayer and VirtualizationLayer. This visualization engine, however, lacks certain features and has a few performance issues.

In the Q2 2013 release we've introduced a new visualization engine in the RadMap. It has been designed from scratch to have better performance. The new visualization engine replaces all 3 layers with the new VisualizationLayer. The major goals of the new engine are:

1. Improve the performance of the data visualization.
2. Allow reading map shapes from different sources (KML, ESRI, and SQL Geospatial) in the background thread.
3. Integrating clustering and items virtualization into the core. This simplifies the usage of both features.
4. Ability to attach/detach almost any input event available for the FrameworkElement to the map shape visualization.
5. Support of items selection in the engine core.

Having this information in mind, I would recommend using the new engine (and its VisualizationLayer) instead of old one (or the InformationLayer).

Regards,
Andrey Murzov
Telerik

[Abder Rezak]

Hi Andrey,

Thanks for your answer, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

I have another question, is this possible to bind a ViewModel with the shape's view or the associated MapShapeData.
I have behavior that occurs on mouse click event that needs to interact with the associated ViewModel.
The only solution I found is to create a new custom MapshapeData that inherits from MapShpeData and that contains a new property that references to the viewModel.

Is there any better solution?

Thank you!

[Andrey]

Hello Abder,

Creation of the custom MapShapeData could have unpredictable effect. I would recommend following this approach:

Every map shape data can have set of the extended properties. They can be accessed through the ExtendedData property. If you read your shapes from external source (like ESRI shape file, KML file or WKT/WKB source) then your shapes most probably already contains set of the extended properties. Check it, whether you can use some for shape identification or not. If it is not then you can add your own property and use it for shape identification. Then you can use value of this property to find data in your view model.

You can find more details about extended data here. This help topic is for the old engine, but extended data works the same way in both old and new engine.

Regards,
Andrey Murzov
Telerik

[Abder Rezak]

Hi Andrey,

Thank you for your answer, it was very helpful!