[maemo-developers] QT map widget

[From: Simon Pickering]

On 11/06/2010 10:02, Till Harbaum wrote:
> with the switch to qt i think there's a need for a qt map widget. I really
> see a need for a unified widget to be used by all applications. The
> current situation with multiple different map widgets on maemo5
> shows what imho should be prevented:
>
> - They store cached tiles at different locations wasting bandwidth as
> well as device flash space
> - No central point for map maintenance (e.g. cleaning the map cache
> or downloading entire areas into the cache for offline usage)
> - No easy and central way to add new map sources
> - The overall look and feel is different although they intend to provide
>   similar function
> - Some widgets work behind network proxies, some don't
> - None of these widgets is really developer friendly

I should add that I totally agree with the goal here. The question is 
whether it would be better to decide exactly what we want (in terms of 
features, hw accelerated rendering, etc.) and write something new, or to 
modify an existing piece of code.

Certainly if this qmapcontrol is suitable that would make life easier 
(and from a quick glance it looks ok).

Would a wiki page be useful to determine people's wishes for such a 
widget? Just thinking off the top of my head there are things like:

Multiple map sources. Would that include things that are available but 
not necessarily fully legal e.g. Google maps - at least it should 
provide a way for third parties or users to enable such things?

What about deciding what sorts of local POI lookups, routing, traffic 
info, etc. might be wanted, and whether it should/can come from online 
or local vector map data (e.g. OSM), or even RDS ;) and how these should 
be provided.

Overlays are another important point - this was a stumbling block for 
Maemo-mapper for a long time iirc.

Cheers,


Simon