The Map class is, as you have probably realized by now, the core piece behind your map. The map object(s) you create is the most important thing behind your map, as without a map object you can't do anything with layers or controls. In this chapter, we'll talk about the Map class, which we've been taking for granted so far.

We will also introduce the concept of a view, which is used to change what we see in a map, and several core concepts you'll need to understand the rest of this book.

We used the Map and View classes so far in this book, without really understanding what's going on. This chapter aims to not only explain how and why we've been doing things, but will also provide thorough coverage of two core classes—the Map and View classes. Specifically, we'll look at: