Location aware apps?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi. I dropped out of app dev for a while but looking to get back in the game. Too much fun. I have a quick question and apologize if this has been covered a zillion times already.

Has there been any improvements made to Corona to build location aware apps? I’m interested in building an app similar to a number of food/restaurant review apps out there in another field. You are at a location, you want to review it, you pull the app, it identifies where you are, pulls up past reviews for that location from a web server I run etc. That sort of thing. Can it now be done in Corona?

Thanks much for your kind responses. All the best. [import]uid: 11904 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 323197[/import]

#2

It has a pretty wide variety of GPS events that can be used.

I’ve not tried to build a GPS app yet, but I believe that all of the things you would need are there.

[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92813[/import]

#3

Thanks for your kind reply. I reviewed the API section of the site but nothing hit me on the head. Will check again. Must have missed the GPS section. Are there any demo / sample apps provided with GPS/Location aware capabilities now? Did not download the latest build yet. Thanks [import]uid: 11904 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92814[/import]

#4

Ok. I think I was looking at the wrong place. Found the location & maps documentation at : http://developer.anscamobile.com/partner/mapview

If you have any samples to point me to I would still appreciate that a lot of course. Thanks much!!! [import]uid: 11904 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92817[/import]

#5

Try:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/content/location-gps

[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92839[/import]

#6

Everything you’ve said above sounds reasonable within Corona, and I’m actually starting a pretty similar thing right now.

The main issue i can see for you is clicking on the markers on the map. Right now when you click a marker it will bring up a title and subtitle. This is fine for most cases, but there isn’t the option in corona to add a clickable button onto that marker (as far as I’m aware). Therefore you won’t be able to have the users click markers and then open up pages relating to whatever they’ve clicked on.

You could do it a more elaborate way using web views and sending requests straight to google maps api etc. But that would be a fair amount of extra work and will probably never feel as native as the current map views in corona.

There are probably a few more options for you, but nothing springs to mind right now.
I’ll have a think and get back to you :slight_smile: [import]uid: 69826 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92840[/import]

#7

In regards to my second point about not using the built in corona map views, take a look here:
http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/mapviews-android-using-google-maps-api-javascript

That may be a possible option, i haven’t tested that code though. [import]uid: 69826 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92843[/import]

#8

Oops. Having clickable markers was my plan… Bummer. [import]uid: 11904 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92931[/import]

#9

i feel your pain… hopefully they will improve the map api at some point to include this. [import]uid: 69826 topic_id: 23197 reply_id: 92991[/import]