What software/components do I need to build windows froms application hosts ESRI maps

Question

Hi stackers,
I'll start working on windows forms application that hosts ESRI maps into it
So, I'm wondering if any one know which components/software do I need to deploy either on the windows client or GIS server (if any) to get my job done ?

Answer 1

If you're not going to purchase (or don't have access to) ESRI's ArcGIS Engine product but still want to have a desktop application, your best bet is probably to use ESRI's free JavaScript API in conjunction with ArcGIS Online Map Services (if you're going to use mapping internally or non-commercially, there's no charge for most of the data). For example, you could use the USA/World Bundle and gain access to satellite imagery, street information, etc.

To view maps in a desktop application, simply host a web browser (such as the WebBrowser control for .Net) on your form, then load the base map and layers via JavaScript API calls.

However, you will also need some way to display map layers that are associated with your company as well. For that, you will need to look into ArcGIS Server. It's not cheap, but it's a good way to host map information as well as perform queries against layers. If your users don't need to do any editing, you could probably get away with the Basic version.