Fellow buzztouchers! I was submitting just now to android and was stuck with the map issue. So this is what I found. Check the link out. It is a very good tool for creating custom maps to use in a custom_url screen for the time being until our maps engine comes to fire again... The best thing is it's completely "responsive" to your device sizes. It'll just format itself to the best viewing experience possible across all device types and models. You can customize your own map too with lot's of options. Of course it won't beat native! sample: http://amap.to/blackbird Just go to "http://amap.to" to start.

Oh and here is some how to and information on the tool http://www.guidingtech.com/4125/share-link-to-google-maps/

Very nice. Love Responsive stuff like that. I just discovered how to use Google Earth to create route maps. You can export the coordinates to XML and feed them to a iOS mkoverlay. Trying to build some screens with this. If this can generate a route map and plot it out, this would save me time on the Android side.....

That would be really great. Keep us posted if you are successful. Some hints would go a long way! Just the problem with most of this is that it won't work offline. Needs connection.

I'm using the 'route-me' SDK for iOS; haven't started on Android (AndNav) yet... It allows me to use my own maps offline. for those who don't make their own maps, you can always export from OSM for your area, and restrict the map coverage to the areas you've obtained. you can then just 'throw' to google maps in a webview (online only) for routing by sending a google map reference including your origination point, and your destination point. This works in either iOS or Android. I'm still trying to figure out how to route from 'within'. Key pages that have given me the knowledge to do this are: https://github.com/Label305/iOS-OfflineMaps-Example http://shikii.net/blog/offline-maps-in-ios-using-openstreetmap-and-route-me/ http://map.project-osrm.org/ http://blueottersoftware.com/embedding-route-me-with-xcode-4-x/ http://jamie.ly/wordpress/programming/libraries/generating-offline-maps-for-ios-applications/ http://build-failed.blogspot.com/2012/03/custom-map-tiles-part-1.html The 'Label305' was instrumental in the beginning of all this. Oddly enough, I had to 'gather' my resources using Label 305s instructions, but I put it together with Buzztouch going off shiiki's page instructions. It's not completely assembled; there is a lot of hodge-podging going on until you can get it to work. I'm still trying to figure out 'the best way' to integrate into BT and document it. I've been successful in getting it into my project; I just need to go back and figure out 'what worked' and what was a waste of time. Cheers! -- Smug

This is great. I'll definitely give it a go. Although I think my iOS users usually have their 3g available most of the time, whereas my android users are less connected (statistically). So this would be a winner on android more than on iOS for me. Especially because of the current google maps api problem.

Another item I forgot that is kind of critical; For whatever reason, although the 'instructions' from 'Label305' worked great to get the database and map tiles, the 'code' didn't work worth a darn. Let me rephrase that; the samples worked great. I couldn't get it to work inside a BT project for the life of me. I tried various 'forks' of route-me, trying to find the most recent code that worked. It seems to be the 'original'. https://github.com/route-me/route-me This SDK in conjunction with the 'blueotter' instructions worked for me. Most of the 'extra' SDK's needed are already included in your basic BT project. But you will need to add "libMapView.a" which will only be available after you have 'successfully' added the Route-Me MapView project into your BT Project, so pay close attention to the previous steps. MapBox and other SDK forks may or may not work; they used ARC, and I didn't want the headache of trying to implement that into a BT project until I had time to understand it. Cheers! -- Smug

Nice stuff on the off-line maps. Great library there and tips. I can see where it would be key for off-line use. Bookmarked if the need comes up! I've been studying the MKPloyline stuff looking to make maps with routes. Thinking you could have a screen where say bike, walking or commuting routes can be displayed. Have it working for 1 route, I just need to add some child items to the screen to see about having multiple routes and have different color polylines for the map and a key/legend for the routes. Moving slowly but getting there. The dev of aMAP.to sent me a PM. It sounds like he's interested in helping and getting feedback from BT users that want to leverage amap.to in apps. Very cool and I'm going to take a closer look at this. The ability to save and customize the map a bit is huge. He sent me tip to make routes I'm going to try out. Considering what a hassle using native maps is in apps because Apple and Google are such great friends and love to function seemelessly- a service like aMAP.to fits a major need IMO. Thanks again for the tip and looking forward to using it!