1

Helloo everyone I am doing some ground work for my next project,I need to display maps in the application.I am finding an alernative for google maps and I have found a list here Alternatives to google maps api am thinking of using OpenLayer maps.I want to know are there any limitations using OpenLayers has anyone worked on this.I couldnt find any limitations in OpenLayers website.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
dharan
  • 743
  • 2
  • 10
  • 28
  • OpenLayers has a higher learning curve because it has more advanced features and OpenLayers has fewer examples than Google Maps – JustinDanielson Jun 15 '12 at 05:59

1 Answers1

5

I am currently implementing an app that uses openlayers to show an OSM-based map delivered by our own tile server. I`m using OL inside a webview. The html files and the scripts, images,... are stored in the asset-folder of the app and called from there.

Till now it works fine. But with Android you have a limitation for mutlitouch-navigation. Though the device would support multi-touch (especially the pinch zoom gesture) the Android WebView (and the stock browser) is not able to. That is an open issue since 2009 for Android < 3.0 You can find the according limitation documentation on openlayers.org and there is a summary-table (I would post it, but StackOverflow doesn`t allow me to post images because I`m a new member) There is an interesting project to get pinch zoom work on Android, I will give it a try the next weeks.

While the performance of the map is very good when watching it from the stock browser, there are some performance issues when using it in the webview: Any zoom-operations are causing unusual high cpu-load and one cannot use the app for 5-10 seconds. I`ve only tested it on a Samsung Galaxy S1 (Android 2.3.6). However, the performance issue doesn`t occur on the emulator. Next week I should have android devices with dual core cpu. I think that will make the app useable with the map in a webview again (will tell you my results).

Summarizing my experiences, I must say OpenLayers is really powerful and I have the feeling that you can do everything with it. You just have to google around for a tutorial ;-)

UPDATE: This week I was able to test on the Samsung Galaxy S3. The performance of the map is great! No issues anymore. And as the S3 comes with Android 4.0.4 multitouch gestures are all available by default - no changes necessary. On the emulator there are some issues when you are using the map very intensive (zooming) - but no such problems on the device. I found out that the Galaxy S 1 has (still) some bugs with the webview cache and is therefore very slow. Maybe it`s an issue for mobile phones that only have a single core cpu. Couldn`t test another device. However, if you cannot find a solution to a problem and think it is an openlayers related issue check the project page for issues

Ronny
  • 166
  • 1
  • 1
  • 9