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iPad Digital Map Development

Details and requirements

The project entails development of a bilingual, easy-to-install iPad Digital Map app for 13 districts with commercial buildings & hotels. The app features high resolution images (4x) zooms, which client had provided us. The app should install even if there’s no access to the internet.

Summary

We designed and developed the map app that supports 13 districts, 110 hotels and 535 commercial buildings. Available in English and Chinese languages, this iPad app guides users about the best way to reach wherever they wish to among the locations supported by the app. Furthermore, the built-in maps make it a fun to devise a travel plan. Using the digital map, user can find out the shortest route to the places often visited by the user (among those mapped in the app) and share the same with anyone who might also wish to find out the shortest possible route to the same places. The app allows user to find out traffic information. Tap to zoom, pan, and change the view with a touch of fingers - Multi-Touch is excellent for bumpy or zigzag roads.

Snapshot of the solutions

Our Endeavour

We designed and developed the map app for iPad for thirteen districts with commercial buildings & hotels included, as per client’s specifications. After thoroughly studying the requirement, we developed the app with the built-in features including:

Home map which is the main screen with different Map icons
Map using this feature, users can:
- Move and zoom the map
- Hide or show any particular building’s name
- View the Building Index button at the bottom of the screen

Building index using this feature, users can:

See the list of mapped buildings
Drag, scroll up and down
Double tab on a building’s name to return to the map with the building highlighted

Details feature:

Appears when user tabs on the popup of a building or scroll left or right to move to different pages
Offers Description, Floorplan, and Image

About the Districts & Cities Included in iPad Digital Map

This is a “Native App” that displays 15 maps of the Hong Kong city plan. The cities include Central, Wanchai & Causeway Bay, Hong Kong East, Western District, Cyberport, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Kowloon East, Hunghom, Kowloon Tong, Shatin, Cheung Sha Wan, Kwai Chung & Tsuen Wan, Tung Chung, and Hong Kong International Airport.

The map displays 535 offices and 110 hotels that can be selected on different city maps. This map can be easily zoomed.

Key features of this app include:

Ultra-fast dynamic map scrolling with ‘pinch to zoom’
Maps are stored ‘offline’ so they can be used even if there’s no phone signal
Topo Sample Pack including choice of OS Landranger and OS Explorer
Viewing of GPS position, course and tracklog on a moving map
Trip computer records time, distance and average speed
Upload, download or email GPX routes and tracklogs
Buy and download additional topo maps directly through iPhone
Automatically downloads free base map of the user’s current location
Auto-rotate screen for Portrait or Landscape view
Screen lock button to lock map display
Compass Bearing displayed with iPhone 3GS compass sensor
‘Search and display’ place name index
Add POIs/Marks directly to the map
OS Grid, Lat/Long, or UTM grid display

Risks/Challenges in the project

We built the application, took scroll view as the mother view and implemented the gesture on the image view and scroll view for the pinching effect. When we created this app for the single state, it worked fine but when it was implemented for the second state, it worked great in the simulator.

However, when the same was tested in the iPad, the application could not open the second state map as we faced critical memory issues here. To overcome the hurdle we have implemented tiles in the application and it helped us solve the issue.

Technologies

Xcode

iOS