Ok this a repost but ill be dammed if I try to find it one more time on microsofts site so I posting it here for SEO sake.
To call one of the Virtual Earth Web Services, you need to generate proxy classes on your client. This is described in detail in the Generating Client Proxy Classes topic. If you are using Visual Studio 2008, use the svcutil.exe command-line utility (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa347733.aspx) or add service references to the Virtual Earth Web Services from the Visual Studio user interface. The Virtual Earth Web Services metadata defines the format of messages that the Virtual Earth Web Services send and receive.
You can use either the standard HTTP protocol or the HTTPS Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to call the Virtual Earth Web Services. Note that using the SSL protocol adds latency for each call to the Virtual Earth Web Services. The latency duration depends on how the SSL infrastructure is implemented on your servers; the minimum additional latency is five milliseconds.
Virtual Earth provides both staging and production environments, which are two functionally identical, yet separate, service environments.
Staging Environment
The Virtual Earth Web Services staging environment is a testing environment that is separate from, but complementary to, the production environment that you use when your application goes live. You can use the staging environment to prototype, develop, and test new applications.
Note The staging environment is not scaled for the volumes that the production environment is designed to provide. Any application stress or performance testing is limited to a certain number of requests per second and time of day.
The following table lists the staging service metadata URLs for each of the Virtual Earth Web Services. Note that you will need to have valid credentials to make staging service calls. More information about getting and setting credentials can be found in the Accessing the Virtual Earth Web Services topic.
Service Name
Staging Service Metadata URL
Geocode Service
http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/geocodeservice/geocodeservice.svc?wsdl
Imagery Service
http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc?wsdl
Route Service
http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/routeservice/routeservice.svc?wsdl
Search Service
http://staging.dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/searchservice/searchservice.svc?wsdl
Production Environment
The Virtual Earth Web Services production environment is fully scaled for all Virtual Earth customers. You use this environment when your application is made available to the public through the Internet, including live, beta, evaluation, and prerelease types of applications.
Note Activity in the production environment is billable. Do not use the production environment for performance and stress testing beyond your expected volumes.
The following table lists the production service metadata URLs for each of the Virtual Earth Web Services. Note that you will need to have valid credentials to make production service calls. More information about getting and setting credentials can be found in the Accessing the Virtual Earth Web Services topic.
Service Name
Production Service Metadata URL
Geocode Service
http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/geocodeservice/geocodeservice.svc?wsdl
Imagery Service
http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/imageryservice/imageryservice.svc?wsdl
Route Service
http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/routeservice/routeservice.svc?wsdl
Search Service
http://dev.virtualearth.net/webservices/v1/searchservice/searchservice.svc?wsdl