Mobile GIS Development

Mobile Devices

• Smart phones: iPhone and Android
• Tablets: Android, Mac, other
• Notebooks: Mac, Windows, Linux

Mobile Operating Systems:

• Android: Java Based Development Kit
• iOS: Apple C++ development platform
• Other: Custom based on manufactory

Issues

• Less space (no disk, just static RAM)
• Less processor power
• Smaller screens
• Slow and often unreliable connections
• Users do not understand the differences between these devices and regular computers!

Approaches

There are existing applications with some level of flexibility

• ArcPad

Develop using appropriate languages and libraries

• Android SDK (Java, uses Eclipse)
• iOS SDK
• Web is another alternative (screen size is encoded in the request)
• Don't try to force a desktop solution into a phone!

Web services to communicate between device and the internet

This includes standards and custom interfaces. Use REST.

Cache data locally

The speed of wireless interfaces (especially cell phones) are slower than hard-wired networks and are less reliable. To improve this, caching data becomes critical to the user experience. You can even implement a "look-ahead cache" that loads data you think the use might want to use in the future in case they lose connection. This can either be automatic or the user could indicate where they are going.

An emulator is critical

Emulators allow you to "use" the mobile device on your local workstation's screen. This is critical to development because it is really hard to debug software on a mobile device.

Remember

The Mobile world is still changing rapidly and new devices and operating systems will probably appear.

HTML 5 solutions (e.g. CanvsMap, OpenLayers) with a web site will be a solution that will probably remain compatible for a long time.