Mobile Phone: google maps api or native sdk - capabilities?

Question

We have an existing website which currently uses v2 of the google maps api which displays cellphone signal strength as a ground overlay on top of the google maps tiles (similar to this http://www.vodafone.co.nz/coverage/ )

What I would like to know is if it's possible to have ground/tile overlays in google maps android/iphone native api's?

The client is wanting to create an iPhone app, but we figured we may aswell make an android app while where at it. Personally I'd prefer to make it just a web app which would then work on any modern mobile browser but then I guess its not a native app. which has its downsides I guess since you can't just tell people to get it off the app store.

But im unsure of the capabilitys of the iphone/android native google maps api. I've set up a very basic map app in android but there doesn't seem to be any support for ground overlays and not even polygons

The funconality I need but not sure if the Android/iPhone native api supports are:

• drawing polygon's
• ground/tile overlays

Would It be better to just create a web app using google maps api v3 in javascript. I've never doing any mobile app dev so not sure if a web app is a good option

Answer 1

Not sure of the capabilities of the iPhone Map Kit (I don't think it natively supports displaying polygons or ground overlays). One option which you may not have considered is a native mobile application using a embedded web browser to display the map. Then you can use the Google Maps API v3, which has been optimized for mobile devices, and supports the features you need.

Check out this article, it should give you a good overview on what you can do: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/articles/mobile_overview_v3.html

Answer 2

iOS4 on the iPhone supports arbitrary polylines and other custom overlays on maps.

The great thing is that your own additions scale along with other map elements as you zoom.

You could do overlays pre-iOS4, but it involved drawing on top of the map - that works, but it means when the user transitions the map at all you have to eliminate your overlays while they are adjusting the map and then bring it back when they stop.

Edit: Just to clarify, drawing on top of the map is facilitated by having the API able to give you exact coordinates being displayed, and also being able to ask for a pixel of a specific lat/long.