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I 'm new to this stuff (GIS). I was assigned a project in which i have to implement for the Android platform:

  1. showing up maps
  2. showing up routes
  3. showing up nearby POIs.

Everything has to be offline!!(loaded on the Android device!) with NO connection to Wifi or GSM network. Please correct me if i'm wrong (as i stated above this is brand new stuff for me - i never did a project in this field, though 20 years in business):

Can the above points be solved with the following tools (respectively)?

  1. using OSMDroid (with ZIPped Openstreet maps)

  2. using Spatialite (just quickly read through some articles but not sure if i can use it!) - or should i use pgRouting (i understand i have to port it to SQLite - but is it possible?))

  3. using "simple maths" (great-circle distance,...)

The above points have to be implemented (as far as the amount of data concerned separately) for maps like Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Greece.

I need some guidance!! Is there anyone who has done something similar?

Thanks in advance!

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2 Answers

This is more of a lengthy comment than an actual answer.

  1. For your first question, I'm not sure how much data you want to download, but by the time you download the maps, and points of interest and convert it all into a db, you might looking at a very large file / disk usage.
  2. For your second question, try using Spatialite's (sqlite extended) routing capabilities.
  3. For your third questions, usually routing applications take care of most of the math for you. I'm not familiar with Java libraries, but python has a good networking / graph library called networkx
  4. I'm not sure how much openstreetmap includes in terms of turning restrictions, toll information, road types and hierarchy, speed limis, etc. All this information is crucial now in any routing system
  5. osm2po is a java based osm routing engine
  6. QGIS for android is a project geared for using gis applications on the android OS. I'm a big fan of QGIS and although I haven't tried QgisAndro, I think it will be great to try out. Java specific uDig is an opensource GIS system. They might have some good code snippets in to help you out. GeoServer is probably one of the more advanced gis built on java stacks.

I might add to this rant as I go

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At least for the OSM maps for Greece that I know, there are no or very little turning restricion, tolls or speed limit data on the road network. So you would be hard pressed to create a reliable routing app. Unless its for walking only :-) –  mapoholic Dec 18 '11 at 18:26
@mapoholic: you're right!! it's only for walking! –  Savvas Sopiadis Dec 18 '11 at 22:32
@dassouki: i digged around in the QGIS site and will give it a try! What makes me scratch my head is the following: for the Android version there is an .apk file! I will need the source code...isn't that possible? –  Savvas Sopiadis Dec 18 '11 at 22:37
@SavvasSopiadis I know nothing about Java my friend, try asking in their dev or user mailing lists though. the qgis team is usually excellent at responding –  dassouki Dec 19 '11 at 0:32
@mapoholic SavvasSopiadis I think for walking routing, you'll need more information such as "does intersection allow pedestrians", or "is there a trail around that users prefer", or "crime rate of this area", or "uphill down grade", "proximity to transit". Pedestrian routing is complex and involves a lot more disaggregate data –  dassouki Dec 19 '11 at 0:34
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MapDroyd is a very similar project:

  • Works with very compact offline maps. For example, the map for California is 154Mb, while the new, compact PBF format can only bring it down to no less than 300Mb.
  • The maps can be downloaded per country directly from the app
  • free

  • The maps for MapDroyd can only be compiled by the vendor

  • There seems to have been only a little further development since summer 2009.

  • not open sourced



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It's interesting as per the osm website, Cloudmade bought them out yet mapdroyd is not mentioned anywhere in their site –  dassouki Dec 19 '11 at 15:15
@Mapperz AFAIU MapDroyd does not support routing (documentation is very pooooor!). If this holds true than i could also use [OSMDroid] (code.google.com/p/osmdroid) which supports also offline maps! –  Savvas Sopiadis Dec 19 '11 at 15:36
Sawas Sopiadis MapDroid supports Navigation - mapdroyd.com/map-android-showroom –  Mapperz Dec 19 '11 at 16:25
@Mapperz Please don't get me wrong but i'm still not convinced that it supports offline navigation. According to this a sister application (NavDroyd) is capable of doing this. Nevertheless this is not an option: i need the source (and these applications are closed source!!...AFAIU) –  Savvas Sopiadis Dec 20 '11 at 11:26
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