Is it actually ok to use bing maps to project onto webgl 3d models?

Question

See: http://potree.org/demo/experimental/potree_map_projections/examples/viewer_proj.html
This is just experimental but I'd love to support Bing in the next stable release.
The project is a webgl point cloud viewer. Open Source and free to use.

Answer 1

The Bing Maps tile can be used in custom map controls, however the tiles need to be accessed using a specific method. The URL t the map tiles changes from time to time. This can cause your application to break. To prevent this your application should call
the Bing Maps Imagery Metadata service when it loads to get the current map tile URL. This also serves as a way to authenticate the usage of the Bing Maps data in your application.
Documentation
on this service can be found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701716.aspx
Making a request to the imagery service like this:
http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/V1/Imagery/Metadata/Road?output=json&include=ImageryProviders&key=BingMapsKey
This will return a response that contains an Image URL property. This URL will look something like this:
http://ecn.{subdomain}.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/r{quadkey}.jpeg?g=129&mkt={culture}&shading=hill&stl=H
You can then replace the different parts of the URL to create each tile. The subdomain can be a value of t0, t1, t2, t3. Using a different one for each tile request you can increase performance by get around browser URL request limits
i.e. many browsers allow up to 8 concurrent requests to the same domain. Using subdomains allows up to 8 requests per subdomain. The culture value can be any value that is documented under the imagery section here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh441729.aspx The quadkey value can be calculated based on the zoom level and the tile you wish to render. Information on the tile system along with
some useful code can be found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb259689.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940990.aspx
In addition to this, the query will also return information on the imagery providers and copyright information which should be displayed with the imagery.
Licensing queries can be sent here:
http://www.microsoft.com/maps/contact-us.aspx
http://rbrundritt.wordpress.com