November 22, 2011 -- Frisco, TX—ThinkGeo has released version 5.5 of Map Suite, its full line of GIS software components for .NET developers. This major milestone refresh introduces two important new features: a robust map printing and page layout system, and support for generating visually stunning contour lines (also known as isolines). A wide variety of bug fixes and stability improvements round out the 5.5 release of Map Suite.

With Map Suite's new printing system, .NET software developers can use the Map Suite GIS controls and components to add robust map printing capabilities to their GIS applications. Map Suite 5.5's new PrinterLayer can programmatically prepare and print attractive page layouts containing not only high-resolution maps, but also images, labels and titles, scale bars and lines, north arrows and data grids. In addition, Map Suite Desktop and WPF Desktop Editions have the added bonus of the PrinterInteractiveOverlay, which allows the end user to assemble their own custom page layout using a graphical user interface. Either way, the end product can either be printed, exported to a PDF document or a raster image file.

Contour lines (also known as isolines) are also new to Map Suite 5.5 and offer a compelling way to visualize breaks between different groups of data – such as elevation levels, soil properties and much more. All editions of Map Suite now have the ability to generate contour line maps either dynamically or via a set of input data.

Both the new printing and contour line features are supplemented with sample code available on the ThinkGeo Wiki and 30-minute instructional videos narrated by David Rehagen, Map Suite's Chief Architect.

Other noteworthy enhancements in the Map Suite 5.5 release include a high-performance rewrite of the Bing™ Maps overlay (which also now includes support for Bing Maps Enterprise Keys), the ability to download tiles from a WMS layer simultaneously instead of serially in Map Suite Web Edition, an update to the latest address data in Map Suite Geocoder, and an overhauled routing API for improved performance in the Map Suite Routing Extension. Beyond that, a variety of bug fixes and stability improvements have been added throughout the Map Suite GIS product range. Complete change logs are available at the ThinkGeo Wiki ( http://wiki.thinkgeo.com), the company's official online source for Map Suite documentation, reference and learning material. The 5.5 update includes new builds of all of Map Suite's major editions, including Desktop, Web, Silverlight, WPF Desktop, Services and WMS Server Editions, as well as the Map Suite Geocoder, World Map Kit and other Map Suite extensions.

ThinkGeo has also announced plans to release special "daily builds" of each Map Suite product in the coming weeks, which will introduce several new features that did not make it into the final Map Suite 5.5 release. Developers will be able to test these new capabilities, which include memory usage and drawing speed improvements, support for the latest versions of MrSid and ECW files, and XML serialization for storing layers, styles and much more across different Map Suite versions.

ThinkGeo's biannual release plan puts them on track to unveil the next major milestone of Map Suite, version 6.0, in May of 2012. GIS professionals who wish to request specific features or enhancements for the next revision of Map Suite are encouraged to visit ThinkGeo's Enhancement Tracker at http://helpdesk.thinkgeo.com/EnhancementTracker, where they can vote on their favorite enhancement ideas and suggest new ones directly to Map Suite's development team.

For more information about Map Suite, or to download a free 60-day evaluation of any Map Suite 5.5 product, visit ThinkGeo's website at http://gis.thinkgeo.com. New users and existing users alike can discuss and get help with their Map Suite applications at ThinkGeo's official Discussion Forums at http://gis.thinkgeo.com/forums.

ThinkGeo is an industry leader in GIS mapping components and customizable GPS tracking solutions. The company offers a wide variety of high-quality geospatial products for software development, asset tracking and much more. They have clients from a wide base of industries ranging from agriculture to aerospace. For more information about ThinkGeo products or professional services, visit www.thinkgeo.com or contact a ThinkGeo sales representative at Email Contact or (866) 847-7510.