Maply Android Beta 1

I'm pleased to announce the first real beta for Maply on Android.  This includes support for x86 and ARM based devices and has been tested back to Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

As a reminder, Maply is the 2D interactive map (e.g. slippy map) portion of the WhirlyGlobe-Maply toolkit.

Android & Maply - The History

The bulk of Maply was ported to Android months ago.  It was paid for by a client who changed plans part way through the project.  It happens.

I needed another project to bring it home.  I don't make my own apps, I need requirements and deadlines to focus my work.  Also, money.  Money is good.

Another client came along who needed a basic, but custom map.  Can't talk about them yet, but we shipped the thing.  It's on the Google Play store and everything.

WhirlyGlobe For Android?

Thus far I've focused on Maply, rather than WhirlyGlobe.  It's easier to market on Android and that's what clients have paid for.

The C++ rendering engine is the same between the two, as is much of the internal logic.  Only the gestures are really unique.

So yes, WhirlyGlobe will be along at some point.  It depends on clients.

State of Android

If you want to try it out, look to the develop_3_0 branch on github.  There's a script to build the whole thing called build_aar.sh.  That'll compile the ARM and x86 versions of the native library and put it all in one place.  You can extract the bits you need for Android Studio without much trouble.

I'm well aware that doesn't constitute a real release.  I plan to have the Maply AAR distributed from a central Maven repository and I plan to do a user's guide.

In the mean time, there is updated reference documentation.

Android & Me

I found Android development pleasant enough.  At the suggestion of the client I switched to Android Studio.  It can't compile the NDK side of things, so I still have to use Eclipse for that.  But for Java, it's nice.  I can see novice developers using it successfully.

The Android side of mousebird consulting (inc) is now fully open for business.  If you've got an app you want to build with Maply or WhirlyGlobe, let's talk.