What tools do I need to make a GIS/GPS Navigation Software by C#

I have been assigned to know to how to make a GPS Navigation Software for Win CE 6.0 operating system. But after searching a lot, I couldn't find a good way to start.

I have downloaded some free software by which i can view the provided ShapeFile files but I want to make a software by which I can view those files in my customized mode.

My preferred technology is .NET 3.5 / 4 and my OS supports silverlight.

You can visit this link what exactly I want to do.

Thanks in advance.

I have to work on a predef开发者_高级运维ined data set (shape files) provided by my client and i have to put my app in GlobalSat [GA-5718] device.

Your suggestions are very fine but it won't work for me. Thats why I am in a confusing position.

At first you'll need to get access to the GPS data and read it. Most GPS modules act as a serial device on some COM port and provide their information in the NMEA Standard.

To get this easily read you should take a look at the OpenNETCF Serial Library, cause it provides an easy access to the informations and is able to read the NMEA strings.

But most GPS modems needed to be initialized by sending a correct NMEA input string. For these you should take a look into this documentation, this site or in the comment in the source above function public bool SendGpsMessage(string GPSSentence).

With these informations you should have a good starting point to correct read in the GPS data. Visualization of these informations to the user (like showing a Map with the current position) is another task. But maps.google.com API would be a possible candidate if you software runs on a machine with internet connection and you don't mind the costs for this connection.

The fact that you are asking this question strongly suggests you do not have the resources or ability to write it from scratch (it is a substantial project). Therefore you will have to use existing toolkits. You mention Silverlight, so I suspect you are going to be working in an online environment. Therefore I would recommend the Bing Maps Silverlight Control. IMHO, this outperforms the Google Maps control at the moment - but it is a moving target. This is a place where active competition results in two products (Google Maps & Bing Maps) constantly trying to out do each other.

If this is for a commercial application, then check the EULAs for these services - although many enthusiasts assume they are free, this is not necessarily the case. Most commercial applications cost significant sums ($1000s per month). In such a situation, the choice of service will probably come down to cost rather than technology.