Offline maps SDK for Android and iOS

android ios google-maps offline skmaps
redrom picture redrom · Aug 11, 2014 · Viewed 10.5k times · Source

I would like to use offline map functionality for my application. Could somebody recommend to any useful map SDK?

I found these: Skobbler, Bing Maps, and TomTom. But in not sure which one is better. I need a custom POI, routes highligting, and bubless with some information.

Is possible to use google maps, with some pre-downloaded maps for offline use?

Thanks for any advice.

Answer

StuStirling picture StuStirling · Aug 11, 2014

With the GoogleMap API on Android and the MapKit SDK on iOS you can implement custom tile providers. This means you can choose the map tiles that your polylines and markers are overlaid on. The beauty of this is you still get the full functionality of the built in mapping APIs but with the added ability to implement offline maps.

You have a few options with a mapping provider like OpenStreetMaps (which is used by many major companies).

  • You could download the entire data set and bundle it with your application so the tiles are already downloaded when the user downloads your app. This will greatly increase the size of your application.
  • Or you implement some offline tile caching. This means that to access the tiles offline the user would have to have seen that part of the map online at some point. You would need to handle the caching of the tiles.
  • You download the tiles for just the area you need them eg. you ask the user if they wish to download the entire data set for the UK. This would reduce the size of the application whilst making the entire UK available offline.

These are just some ideas. Hope it helps.

Related questions

How to create a link for all mobile devices that opens google maps with a route starting at the current location, destinating a given place?

I rather thought this would not be so hard to find out but appearantly it is not easy to find an awesome cross device article, like you'd expect. I want to create a link which opens either the mobile device's …

Read More
Is it possible to create turn-by-turn GPS navigation app on Android/iOS using Google Maps?

Today I've talked to a client and he wants to build a simple navigation APP on Android! Basically we could use Google maps, place some of "our" markers to show some locations (restaurants, hotels etc.) .. also we need to show …

Read More
How to handle multiple markers on Google Maps with same location?

I use Google Maps in an app and it is likely that multiple markers are attached to same location where each marker represent a person. In this situation user will not know that there are other markers/persons behind this …

Read More