[Talk-GB] VectorMap GB 1.15 - offline rendering for iOS devices

[Chris Saunter]

Dear All,

I am pleased to say that a couple of updates are now under the belt
for VectorMap GB and version 1.15 is out on the App Store.  This is an
offline map viewer for the Apple iOS platform (iPhone et al).

I hope people don't mind me posting about it here.  I hope that some
of you are interested, and I would love to hear your comments - either
what you like/hate about it, or what you would like to see in the app.

I have made this to be the map viewer I want as there doesn't seem to
be anything quite like it currently out there - perhaps it's best
described as a map leaning towards a GIS viewer - it's all about the
options...

VectorMap renders OSM data and SRTM derived contours 'on the fly' from
a compact binary store rather than having a large cache of
pre-rendered image tiles.  Many way types are included along with
different renderer configurations to emphasise them (footpaths,
cycleways, active and disused railways etc.)

There are up- and down-sides to this approach:

+ highly configurable - for example railways or canals can be highlighted
+ small data size - England, Wales & Scotland boils down to about 120mb
- not as pretty or detailed as the Mapnik rendered slippymap etc. (for now!)
- not always as fast as a pre-rendered map - the latest version has
made significant progress in keeping the user interface responsive
whilst improving detail

Currently it's more of an app for map fans who like to do some
armchair exploring rather than a 'be all and end all' map.  It's fully
functional but there is plenty to be done on the basic rendering
before I move on to clever features, for example adding detail at the
large scale (OSM Relationships) and the small scale (street names) and
I would like to make the renderer fully user-configurable but
squeezing the interface for that down to an iPhone screen is taking
some thought.

Kind Regards,
Chris S.