I am dismayed that MapPoint.NET isn't more friendly to developers with personal side-projects. All I want to know is how much it'd cost me to make a few requests to the web service; however specific licensing information isn't on the web site. Unlike most other web services (google, as an example), MapPoint.NET doesn't give a perpetual license to a small number of transactions a month to folks who would want it.

For example -- I wanted to write a program for my smartphone that would allow me to specify two addresses and then pull driving directions from a web service, and optionally display a map for each step. With a 45-day MapPoint.NET trial, the service isn't useful to me. But given a lack of licensing info I can't even determine whether the overall service is worth it for me to pay for my own hobby. The only solution for me might be to use the real MapPoint 2004 product to copy out little maps and write my own web services to serve that data to myself.

Sorry for ranting. I just bumped into this problem recently and had to vent -- and your post provided a venue. Perhaps as developer relations, you're even in a position to constructively listen :)

There is a rather large hobbyist community that uses the MapPoint application to build their solutions.

You might want to take a look at one of my favorite websites about working with MapPoint: http://www.mp2kmag.com/

Ken

There is a rather large hobbyist community that uses the MapPoint application to build their solutions. <br> <br>You might want to take a look at one of my favorite websites about working with MapPoint: <a target="_new" href="http://www.mp2kmag.com/">http://www.mp2kmag.com/</a> <br>