Take advantage of iPhone and iPad sensors and advanced geolocation technologies to build state-of-the-art location applications. In this concise hands-on guide, author Alasdair Allan (Learning iOS Programming) takes you deep inside Apple’s Core Location framework, Map Kit, and other iOS tools, using illustrative examples and sample Objective-C code. Learn how to build location-aware apps for both iPhones and iPads, using code that detects hardware features and then adjusts your app’s behavior.
If you’re a programmer with iOS experience, or a Mac developer familiar with Objective-C, this book helps you get off to a solid start in location-based app development.
You’ll learn about:
Core Location: Understand the significant-change location service and geo-fencing capabilities
Map Kit: Embed maps into your application’s views
Magnetometer: Use the on-board sensor as a digital compass
Geocoding capabilities: Translate geographic coordinates into place names, and vice versa
Heat maps: Get a code walkthrough for displaying these maps on top of a standard MapKit view
Third-party SDKs: Add unique geo-location capabilities to your app from SkyHook Wireless, MapBox, and other providers
Chapter 1 Introduction
Detecting Hardware Differences
Setting Required Hardware Capabilities
Chapter 2 Core Location
The Standard Location Service
Significant Location Monitoring
Chapter 3 Map Kit
Adding a Map
Chapter 4 Digital Compass
About the Magnetometer
Writing a Compass Application
Chapter 5 Geocoding
Building an Example App
Chapter 6 Drawing Heat Maps
Building an Earthquake Map
Overlaying Other Types of Images
Chapter 7 Further Information and Third-Party SDKs
Alasdair Allan is a senior research fellow in Astronomy at the University of Exeter, where he is building an autonomous, distributed peer-to-peer network of telescopes that reactively schedule observations of time-critical events. He also runs a small technology consulting business writing bespoke software and building open hardware, and is currently developing a series of iPhone applications to monitor and manage cloud-based services and distributed sensor networks.
One of the most popular uses of the iPhone is to view locations on a map. Apps can show you where you are, where you want to go, or just what's out there in the world. Developers have the opportunity to access maps and location with ease and can display location-based data to enhance an application. Geolocation in iOS helps the experienced Objective-C developer learn the tools needed to implement features using the Map Kit and Core Location frameworks. There are several code examples in the book, including applications for showing location information, creating a compass, and adding overlays to the map. The chapters guide the reader through these simple examples, which can be expanded to create a more fully featured application. While several third-party tools are mentioned, displaying heat maps through the use of Skyhook Wireless code demonstrated the potential for creating a compelling map-based view of data.
Although published shortly after the release of iOS 6, Geolocation in iOS does not feature Apple's maps and the new routing functionality that was opened up to developers. Perhaps in a future edition these and other areas, such as switching map types and creating paths on the map as the location changes, will be addressed. For now, the book provides a nice introduction to using the iOS location and mapping frameworks.
Disclosure: Free access to this e-book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend