Dual road shields, improved city labeling and coastline trimming

The most noticeable improvement is the addition of terrain, but there are quite a few other style-related improvements that we’re excited to announce as well:

• Support for dual road shields
• Improved road shield spacing
• Improved road shield density per zoom level
• Improved city styles
• Improved tunnel styles
• Improved coastline trimming

Did you know that MapQuest started offering tiles based on OpenStreetMap data back in 2010? Since then, we’ve expanded our Open data offerings to include a number of APIs – all of which are free to anyone who would like to use them. Unlike our licensed data offerings, MapQuest-OSM tiles are available for direct access and can be consumed by other mapping toolkits, such as Leaflet and OpenLayers.

Have questions or need help getting started with using MapQuest-OSM tiles? Feel free to check out the Open Initiatives – Tiles forum on the MapQuest Developer Network or tweet us. We love to hear from developers who are using our tiles and APIs!

Terrain and improved tunnel styling

I’m sure you have heard the buzz about iOS 6, Apple Maps, and alternatives to Apple Maps; in fact, at this point, I would be surprised if you haven’t! While this topic was dominating the headlines, the MapQuest mobile development team was busy putting the finishing touches on the next release of the Android Maps API. Version 1.0.4 is available for download today and includes the following bug fixes and enhancements:

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue related to map tiles not showing up in certain situations
• Fixed a bug in default route narrative rendering
• Fixed alignment issues and a bug when setting focus on an item in an ItemizedOverlay

Enhancements:

• Added the option to turn off auto-starting of guidance and the ability to use custom messaging instead of the default prompt in MapQuestAppLauncher
• Added the ability to customize the background loading tile
• Added the ability for a MyLocation overlay to use a plain Drawable instead of a BitmapDrawable to more easily customize the marker
• Made drawing more efficient for larger sets of points in a LineOverlay
• Changed the pointer height and width calculations to allow for customization in an AnnotationView
• Removed enforcement of subclassing of MapActivity when using maps

The Android Maps API is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the existing mapping framework included with the Android operating system and includes many of the features MapQuest is known for, such as integrated maps and driving directions, geocoding, and the ability to switch between licensed and open data.

We always like to hear about the great apps that you’ve built with our APIs, so if you’ve built something using the Android Maps API and want us to feature it, let us know by tweeting us @MapQuestTech!

The exhibit floor at the GIS in the Rockies conference. Photo courtesy of Annette Ginocchetti.

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking about the MapQuest Directions API as a part of the Emerging Technologies track at the GIS in the Rockies conference. The conference, which was held at The Cable Center here in Denver, Colorado, is a large regional conference that focuses on many topics relevant to geospatial technologies, including geospatial web development, analysis, surveying, photogrammetry, and remote sensing.

My session, An in-depth look at the MapQuest Directions API, touched upon many of the features included in the Directions API that go beyond simple point-to-point routes and driving directions, such as:

• Multipoint routing
• Optimized routing
• Route control points
• Route matrix
• Corridor searching (with the MapQuest Search API)

We took a look at sample code, requests, responses, and talked about how to get started, since all of this great functionality is available to both Community Edition and Enterprise Edition developers today (yes, today!).

The conference was well done and certainly did not disappoint; in fact, it was inspiring to see the work being done by others in the industry and many of the sessions were informative and fun. I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference. Only 360 more days to go!

If you need help with getting started or have questions about the Directions API, feel free to check out the forums on the Developer Network or tweet @MapQuestTech!

The MapQuest iOS Maps API essentially takes the default iOS mapping tools a step – or a few steps – farther, by offering features currently unavailable to iOS developers, such as integrated driving directions and the ability to choose between licensed MapQuest and MapQuest-OSM data and map tiles. Getting started is a breeze; the iOS Maps API uses the same object model as the default iOS mapping tools, so it is an easy, drop-in replacement. Simply download the API toolkit and samples, add the MQMapKit framework to your project, and ensure that the import statements are referencing the MQMapKit framework. That’s it! Code samples are included with the download and the Developer Network Forums are always a great resource for answering questions and meeting other developers who use MapQuest APIs.

The iOS Maps API 1.0.1 release also incorporates enhancements and bug fixes that have been made as a result of feedback provided by developers on the Developer Network Forums, Twitter, meetups that we have attended, and MapQuest Enterprise Solutions developers who have already started to build applications based on the beta releases. This release improves overlay rendering and memory and tile usage and fixes iOS 5 MapKit incompatibilities that were reported during the beta. A full changelog is included with the release notes, so be sure to take a look.

Not an iOS developer? We’ve still got you covered. MapQuest offers many options for mobile developers:

• Android Maps API – The Android Maps API is available to Android developers who wish to incorporate the MapQuest platform into native Android applications.
• Mobile Flash Maps API – The Mobile Flash Maps API is available to Flex developers who create native Android and iOS applications by utilizing the ‘build once, deploy everywhere‘ functionality included in the Flex SDK.
• JavaScript Maps API – The JavaScript Maps API supports touch gestures and can be used to create feature rich browser-based mobile Web applications.
• MapQuest Web Services – The MapQuest Web Services can be accessed directly by any client capable of making HTTP requests, so if the previous options are not a good fit for your project, the Web Services are yet another option available to mobile developers.

We love to hear from our developers! Tell us about the great applications you have built with the MapQuest mobile APIs, either by posting on the Developer Network Forums, or tweeting us!

Developers who are using the MapQuest Flash Maps API may have noticed recent changes to the MapQuest Flash Samples Explorer application. The Samples Explorer application is intended to highlight the functionality of the Flash Maps API by providing interactive samples and easily-downloadable source code. Quite a few of the existing samples have been revised to incorporate additional functionality and two new samples have been added: search map and alternate routes.

Search Map is a sample that dynamically displays results from the MapQuest Search Web Service based on the extent of the map. Query results are updated and displayed every time a zoomend or dragend event is detected, so, every time the map is zoomed or panned, the results are updated based on the extent of the map. Also, a slider component allows a maximum number of search results to be defined, so the results will be limited to a number that is set by the user.

The Alternate Routes sample queries the MapQuest Directions Web Service and displays route alternatives that are returned when a route is requested. Alternate routes are displayed in a clickable list and the time, distance, route map, and narrative will update based on the selected route, which allows for easy comparison of route details. The maximum number of route alternatives that are returned by the Directions Web Service can be defined as well, so the results will be limited to a number that is set by the user.

Finally, DGLogik has announced a MapQuest component for their innovative Adobe Flex and AIR-based DGLux visualization platform. DGLux allows users to create data-driven applications and dashboards without writing a single line of code! The DGLux MapQuest component is powered by the MapQuest Flash Maps API. Check out the video tutorial below: