OffMaps - OpenStreetMap - iPhone

OffMaps - OpenStreetMap - iPhone



OffMaps allows you to access maps and location bookmarks wherever you are, even offline and abroad. This stores maps directly on your device for any area and zoom level you request. This gives you true offline maps for any region and city.


Image Sources: http://offmap.net/screenshots-offline-maps-appstore.htm

OffMaps does not come with one limited set of maps preloaded: It lets you download as many maps as you like for any area at no additional cost.

OffMaps has two modes: online and offline mode.

Online mode you can pan and zoom normally through the world map. Map images that have not been cached will automatically be loaded and saved to the cache for later offline use.
You can also search for locations around the world, add bookmarks and preload whole areas in a zoom range of your liking. Of course you can view your own location too.

Offline mode you can only view maps of areas that you have previously seen or preloaded. You can view your current location and bookmarks, but can't use the search as this requires the large CloudMade database that is only available online. You can even add local bookmarks by tapping the map at any location.

Features
OpenStreetMap Maps (Online Community Created Maps)
Maps with cache and download function
Online Search for places, cities and features
Bookmarks (offline and online) with internal search
Display of own current location with accuracy indicator
Map scale in kilometres or miles
Data roaming disabled (default), OffMaps will automatically go to offline mode when abroad.

For an Online Video of the map application see http://offmap.net/video-offline-maps-iphone.htm

Map source to see the level of detail:
http://maps.cloudmade.com

Source:
http://community.cloudmade.com/blog/2009/05/13/cloudmade-is-powering-the-1-and-3-iphone-apps-in-the-uk/

Mapping the News API (Guardian)

Mapping the News API

The Guardian is now Geocoding/Mapping it's News Articles with it's New OpenData API

A neat way of finding news articles by location.

Experiment with the new API
http://www.guardian.co.uk/open-platform/getting-started

Start Page for Guardian Map API
http://guardian.apimaps.org/index.html

GeoCode this! (try a search term)
http://guardian.apimaps.org/search.html

CloudeMade Mapping
http://guardian.apimaps.org/map.html


Note: Articles that do not have a location can be updated by readers

Example search
http://guardian.apimaps.org/search.html?q=London

For Budding Developers:
Data Structure of the API
http://guardian.apimaps.org/data.html

Map API integration:
News articles by The Guardian.
Maps © 2009 CloudMade, map data CC-BY-SA OpenStreetMap.org contributors.
Place searching by Flickr. Font reset by YUI. Cheerleading by SteveC.
Design and code by Stamen Design.

Source:
http://www.programmableweb.com/mashup/guardian-api-maps

CloudMade - A Preview the Future of Mapping

CloudMade - A Preview the Future of Mapping

update:


Have faster maps - if you use Open Street Map - Please donate to help get whizzy fast servers.
http://donate.openstreetmap.org/

• Funding Target: £ 10,000
• Raised: £15,579 (155.79%) - Well Done!
• Google donates £5,000 (source: twitter)
  

(invest your money here rather than a UK bank - your get a better return)

And there are thanks from the Open Street Map Team
"UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has donated. Any additional contributions raised will be used to fund additional hardware on other under resourced OpenStreetMap servers."


Sneek Peek - Cycling directions with option to export to JSON or GPX format

"On the evening of the 12th February, CloudMade invite you to preview the future of mapping application development. Our developer launch event will feature a keynote talk from CloudMade Founder Steve Coast, who will share his pioneering vision of mapping."

The evening will also feature presentations from a selection of CloudMade partners who will demonstrate never seen before web and mobile applications built using CloudMade's web services. You'll have the opportunity to talk one on one to the CloudMade team and to our partner developers to find out exactly how CloudMade can help you build better applications.

The London launch event will be held at the Holborn Bars, 138-142 Holborn, The City, London, EC1N 2NQ (view on map). There will be a drinks reception and networking from 6 - 6.30pm followed by presentations and the launch event. The event will conclude around 8.30pm, with some time for additional networking.

"CloudMade's web services are going to change the way your users experience geo apps. We've been working on a set of Tools and APIs to give you access to verified OpenStreetMap data on the platform you choose in the formats you want."

Two developer events in San Francisco and London will introduce you to CloudMade's unique services. If you're a developer building web, mobile or desktop mapping applications, these are the events for you.

Sneek peek video showing the neat map editor 'Edit Map Styles'



CloudMade StyleEditor ScreenCast from CloudMade on Vimeo.

CloudMade Web Lite API (pre Alpha)

CloudMade API (pre Alpha)

"Our [CloudMade] aims are to continue the democratization of geo data and to expand access to open geo data through a range of simple yet powerful tools and APIs."


Early Days but looking promising in the 'lite' way to get web mapping on your site without the large restrictions other mapping api's have.

Now there is two Mapping API's that are in early stages of development.

Web Lite - API
http://www.cloudmade.com/products/web-maps-lite

Features:

• Take advantage of the most up-to-date source of map data on the web
• Benefit from the rich OpenStreetMap dataset, with features such as footpaths and cycle paths that are not found on other online maps
• Be free from restrictive licensing - use our maps for routing, real time tracking and as a basemap to derive new layers

Mobile Maps API*
http://www.cloudmade.com/products/mobile-tiles
Features:

• Create applications for mobile devices that use CloudMade's mobile optimized maps
• Benefit from the rich OpenStreetMap dataset, with features such as footpaths and cycle paths that are not found on other online maps
• Take advantage of the most up-to-date source of map data on the web

*untested by Mapperz currently

Examples:

Try the drag marker with panning and zooming functionally added.
http://mapperz.googlepages.com/cloudmade_web_lite_api.html

speed test onload: 0.85 milliseconds (YSlow!)

To test it - Mapperz used the OSM data in Virtual Earth as a comparison
http://mapperz.googlepages.com/osm_in_VE.html
speed test onload: 1.25 milliseconds (YSlow!)

Yes currently the bigger API's have more functionality but their Terms restrict in what you can and cannot do with your mapping, so the future for a lightweight Mapping API is looking good.

Web Maps Lite API is currently in 'closed pre-Alpha'
Let's look forward to a Public Beta.

Though you can view the Official Step-by-Step Examples
http://www.cloudmade.com/products/web-maps-lite/examples/1

Another good move by Cloudmade is the OSM data

"This is where you can find extracts of maps from different places around the world. From here you can download:"

• OSM XML extracts by country
• Garmin Map Files (OSM.err edition)
• Osmosis country bounding polygon
• Shapefile extracts by country
• Navit maps by country
• GPX POI by country
• TomTom POI by country
• OSM XML feature extracts by country

http://downloads.cloudmade.com/