How do I get my MapIcon to always show?

Question

Hey guys,
I've started coding a little WP 8.1 Map application using MapControl to render the map and MapIcon . I've been browsing the thin documentation on these components
online and ultimately used Microsoft's Dev Center Page.
On the page it states that The MapIcon is not guaranteed to be shown. It may be hidden when it obscures other elements or labels on the map. and this is exactly the
problem I suffer from. I have tried setting theZIndex to ridiculously high values such as 500/1000 but to no avail. My icons won't display it seems when there is a big label somewhere on the map.
Have any of you come across this issue? If yes how did you get around it?

Answer 1

I personally never use the MapIcon class for pushpins. Instead I create a UIElement and add it to the map using the Children property. This is more inline with other versions of Bing Maps and gives you a lot more flexibility. Also, as noted in one of the
other posts, the children renders above everything else. Here is an example of how to create a circle pushpin with text written above it.
public void AddPushpin(BasicGeoposition location, string text)
var pin = new Grid()
Width = 24,
Height = 24,
Margin = new Windows.UI.Xaml.Thickness(-12)
pin.Children.Add(new Ellipse()
Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.DodgerBlue),
Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White),
StrokeThickness = 3,
Width = 24,
Height = 24
pin.Children.Add(new TextBlock()
Text = text,
FontSize = 12,
Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White),
HorizontalAlignment = Windows.UI.Xaml.HorizontalAlignment.Center,
VerticalAlignment = Windows.UI.Xaml.VerticalAlignment.Center
MapControl.SetLocation(pin, new Geopoint(location));
_map.Children.Add(pin);
I've pulled this code from this blog post on maps in universal apps:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rbrundritt/archive/2014/06/24/how-to-make-use-of-maps-in-universal-apps.aspx
http://rbrundritt.wordpress.com