Thursday, December 13, 2012

WhirlyGlobe Component 2.1 (Alpha)

I've put together an Alpha distribution for the new WhirlyGlobe Component.  The naming scheme is changing to match the API.  Because.

The next version of WhirlyGlobe is 2.1, so this is the WhirlyGlobe-Maply Component 2.1 (alpha).  I'm sure it'll live up to that designation.

It sure doesn't *look* unstable.

New Features

There is a ton of new stuff in WhirlyGlobe 2.1 and the Component.  Here's a short, non-exhaustive list.

  • Continuous zoom mode in the view.  Let's us get much closer to the surface of the globe and much farther away.
  • Better animate to position support, including offsets.
  • More rendering hints, including a new Zbuffer variant just for globes.
  • OpenGL ES 2.0, but it's off.  Leave it off (for now).
  • More locational feedback from the view controller, mostly utility methods.
  • Vector databases (shape files) with simple queries.
  • 3D shapes, including spheres, circles, cylinders, lines, and ballistic curves.
  • Stickers, which are like markers, but bigger.  And curved.
  • Invisible vectors used just for selection.
  • More layer control.
  • Private headers for WhirlyGlobeViewController if you want to subclass.  Not for the faint of heart.
  • Explicit stop/start animation calls.  Don't know why they weren't there before.
  • A userObject on the selectable objects.  Nobody wanted to subclass, so here you go.
  • Retina support is finally complete and properly debugged.
  • Automatic 2D label layout.  That's right.  You heard me.
In addition to all the new features, things just work better.  Quad paging layers are much better optimized.  Try it with OpenStreetMap... it's kind of astounding.

To get it, use the develop branch on github.  If you'd rather have a binary distribution, drop me a line and I'll send you the link.

No doubt I've broken something critical and left something out.  The sooner I find it, the sooner I can call this "beta".

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