ESRI ArcGIS iPhone API – First Impressions

by James Richards May 04, 2010

The ESRI ArcGIS iPhone API was released to public beta today. Jeff Shaner blogged and tweeted about it this morning.

I downloaded the SDK this afternoon and took it for a spin. My first impressions are very favorable. Although the documentation is still a bit sparse in a few places, that’s to be expected for a first beta.

The SDK is another client API for consuming ArcGIS Server REST endpoints, and it works with versions 9.3.1 and 10.0. If you have worked with any of the other client APIs, you will already be familiar with the basic paradigm of interaction with the various REST services offered by ArcGIS Server.

The SDK Concepts Documentation provides a basic overview of the technology and includes a number of brief walkthroughs as well as short code samples illustrating how to perform common programming tasks with the API.

The installation also includes six sample applications which are installed into your ~/Library/SDKs/Samples folder. Studying these sample apps is a good way to jumpstart your familiarity with the API.

But enough talk already, let’s see some code! [more]

After following the My First iPhone Application tutorial,  I decided to jump in and modify the application to improve it in a some specific ways:

  • Add a button bar to toggle three base map types: Streets, Aerial Imagery, and Shaded Relief Map
  • Zoom to a predefined initial extent on application startup
  • Support any device rotation

I won’t spend a lot of time describing everything here. I’ll just show a few screen snapshots with the source code and make everything available for download.

Here are some screen snapshots of the app running in the simulator:

StreetView     ImageryView     ReliefView

Rotated

Here is the MyFirstMapAppViewController.h header file:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "AGSiPhone.h"

#define kTiledStreetMapServiceURL @"http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_StreetMap_World_2D/MapServer"
#define kTiledImageryMapServiceURL @"http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_Imagery_World_2D/MapServer"
#define kTiledReliefMapServiceURL @"http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_ShadedRelief_World_2D/MapServer"

@interface MyFirstMapAppViewController : UIViewController<AGSMapViewDelegate> {
    AGSMapView *_mapView;
    
    UIView *_streetView;
    AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *_streetLayer;
    
    UIView *_imageryView;
    AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *_imageryLayer;

    UIView *_reliefView;
    AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *_reliefLayer;
    
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet AGSMapView *mapView;

@property (nonatomic, retain) UIView *streetView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *streetLayer;

@property (nonatomic, retain) UIView *imageryView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *imageryLayer;

@property (nonatomic, retain) UIView *reliefView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) AGSTiledMapServiceLayer *reliefLayer;

- (IBAction)toggleLayer:(id)sender;

@end

(Sorry, this is my first post about iPhone programming and I haven’t figured out how to highlight the syntax for Objective-C yet!)

And here is the MyFirstMapAppViewController.m implementation file:

#import "MyFirstMapAppViewController.h"

@implementation MyFirstMapAppViewController

@synthesize mapView = _mapView;
@synthesize streetView = _streetView;
@synthesize streetLayer = _streetLayer;
@synthesize imageryView = _imageryView;
@synthesize imageryLayer = _imageryLayer;
@synthesize reliefView = _reliefView;
@synthesize reliefLayer = _reliefLayer;

// Implement viewDidLoad to do additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    self.mapView.mapViewDelegate = self;
    
    self.streetLayer = [AGSTiledMapServiceLayer tiledMapServiceLayerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:kTiledStreetMapServiceURL]];
    self.streetView = [self.mapView addMapLayer:self.streetLayer withName:@"Street"];
    self.streetView.hidden = NO;

    self.imageryLayer = [AGSTiledMapServiceLayer tiledMapServiceLayerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:kTiledImageryMapServiceURL]];
    self.imageryView = [self.mapView addMapLayer:self.imageryLayer withName:@"Imagery"];
    self.imageryView.hidden = YES;

    self.reliefLayer = [AGSTiledMapServiceLayer tiledMapServiceLayerWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:kTiledReliefMapServiceURL]];
    self.reliefView = [self.mapView addMapLayer:self.reliefLayer withName:@"Relief"];
    self.reliefView.hidden = YES;
        
}

// Override to allow orientations other than the default portrait orientation.
- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {
    // Return YES for supported orientations
    return YES;
}

- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning {
    // Releases the view if it doesn't have a superview.
    [super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
    
    // Release any cached data, images, etc that aren't in use.
}

- (void)viewDidUnload {
    // Release any retained subviews of the main view.
    // e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

- (void)dealloc {
    self.mapView = nil;
    self.streetView = nil;
    self.streetLayer = nil;
    self.imageryView = nil;
    self.imageryLayer = nil;
    self.reliefView = nil;
    self.reliefLayer = nil;
    
    [super dealloc];
}

- (IBAction)toggleLayer:(id)sender {
    
    self.streetView.hidden = (((UISegmentedControl *)sender).selectedSegmentIndex != 0);
    self.imageryView.hidden = (((UISegmentedControl *)sender).selectedSegmentIndex != 1);
    self.reliefView.hidden = (((UISegmentedControl *)sender).selectedSegmentIndex != 2);    
}

#pragma mark AGSMapViewDelegate

//called when the map view is loaded (after the view is loaded) 
- (void)mapViewDidLoad:(AGSMapView *)mapView {
    
    //create extent to be used as default
    AGSEnvelope *envelope = [AGSEnvelope envelopeWithXmin:-124.83145667
                                                     ymin:30.49849464
                                                     xmax:-113.91375495
                                                     ymax:44.69150688
                                         spatialReference:mapView.spatialReference];
    
    //call method to set extent, pass in envelope
    [self.mapView performSelector:@selector(zoomToEnvelope:animated:) 
                       withObject:envelope
                       afterDelay:0.5];
}    

@end

There are a couple of points to note about how things are wired up in Interface Builder.

The UISegmentedControl’s Value Changed event is hooked up to the File’s Owner’s toggleLayer function.

IB1

And the UISegmentedControl’s Autosizing is set to bottom center. By configuring the control this way in Interface Builder, we do not need to write any code to handle placement of the UISegmentedControl when the view rotates.

IB2

Summary

Well, that about covers everything for my first experience with the ESRI iPhone SDK. All in all, I’d say it looks like another great client API for use with ArcGIS Server. For those of us who have been wanting to create native iPhone apps on the ESRI stack, the wait is over!

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of ESRI’s latest offering.

Click here to download the source code from this article.

Additional Resources

Tags: , , ,

ArcGIS Server | ESRI | Mobile | iPhone

Comments

5/7/2010 5:03:25 AM #

trackback

Tweet/Blog Roundup On New ESRI iPhone SDK

May 3: "The Mobile team is excited to announce that the ArcGIS API for iPhone is now in public beta!"

- ESRI announcement on ESRI Mobile Blog

TWEETS

@marsofearth: #GIS okay ESRI released the ArcGIS iPhone API this week. I have not seen anything c

All Points Blog |

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James Richards

Hi, I'm James Richards the CTO and co-founder of Artisan Global LLC. We make location-aware mobile apps with maps. I'm the author of QuakeFeed and I helped launch Zaarly at LASW Feb 2011. I also enjoy surfing, snowboarding, golfing, yoga, and music. I love my family: Linda, Sequoya and our cats Remy and Twiggy. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find something helpful here.

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