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I was interested in creating a mapping application in the iOS environment. I have looked at what ESRI has to offer, but I am interested in open source. Could anybody suggest any documentation or point me to some place where I could start learning how to create such apps?

Thanks.

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"Depends"...it depends what you're trying to do. Dots on a map? Later move from iOS to other platforms? Do you care about the base map or not? Please add more about your use case. I'll add one answer below as one possible implementation/approach. – Vadim Nov 18 '12 at 21:28

closed as not a real question by R.K., iant♦, Chad Cooper, djq, whuber♦ Nov 19 '12 at 16:27

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

2 Answers

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[see note above re: needing more detail. this is just one possible implementation].

Implement a native-like app with HTML5 + CSS + Javascript (yey, easy stuff, no Objective C) and then wrap it in WebView and you have an "app". Want it the easy way?

  1. Take the OpenLayers mobile map sample and modify.

    http://openlayers.org/dev/examples/mobile-jq.html#mappage

  2. Use PhoneGap to build your app

http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.2.0/guide_getting-started_index.md.html

3/4/5 - Take same code build and build for Blackberry, Android, Etc...

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leaflet is focused more on mobile platform. leafletjs.com/features.html – rashad Nov 19 '12 at 5:33
re: leaflet. Looks like with leaflet it's the same concept. Lightweight browser-based map + .... what? Still have to wrap in a webview that's home-baked on phone gap. Or is there another approach? Other than that. Yeah, looks good. Leaflet, or OL - at this point it's all the same – Vadim Nov 19 '12 at 21:02
I understand this question had a broad scope. But, your answer is exactly what I was looking for in the first place. Thanks. – Rahul Bhosle Nov 23 '12 at 0:53
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Mapbox IOS SDK is another possible option. It was forked from the route-me sdk.

Note that there are non-obvious terms-of-service limits for part of the Mapbox IOS SDK. They're not unreasonable (its just the Mapbox ToS), just something to note.

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(to be clear: those apply only to usage with MapBox tiles. You can use the SDK with other sources of tiles, which have their own terms of service(s?), which have similar provisions. – tmcw Nov 19 '12 at 0:35

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