Analysis of Mobile Map update data

Mobile map updates are now one of the most commonly used functions in lbs. But since we need to retrieve the map data again, we first have to understand how the data is obtained. In the case of network and no network, General We can divide the map into:

Online map

Offline map

At present, the form of online map is more, the most common form, such as the Google Map on phone, he relies on mobile phones to develop local applications, but on the map data, he is still online access. And another form is similar to desktop Internet, as long as directly in the browser input map URL, you can get map data online, and now, Baidu, Nokia and so on have launched their own HTML5 version of the map, we commonly known as Web App.

The advantage of online maps is that the space occupied in the software is very small, download installation and convenient and fast, and the general software in the 3MB to 5MB or so. However, its disadvantage is that it can not be viewed offline, but also need to load the network in real time, so the use of mobile phone network will consume traffic, create some fees, which makes users often worry that these costs will be difficult to control.

As a result, there are many offline maps on the market. Most of these maps are in the local application mode, usually with navigation, such as the navigation of the iphone, Kay navigation iphone version. The so-called off-line map, is the map data stored in the mobile phone local, do not need to network also can get map data. (note, however, that offline maps are not equivalent to offline navigation, a lot of customers don't know the difference. In addition, although the current HTML 5 has local storage capabilities, but the size is limited, the following figure Nokia's latest HTML 5 Web version has launched an offline map, but the data download is still limited to support only part of the map download.

At present, the advantage of off-line map is that there is no need for networking, as with paper maps, even if the network signal poor area can be used, and there is no flow, do not produce costs. But the disadvantage is that the map is generally very large, the initial download general needs in the home or work network environment to complete, the size of the general in the 3GB to 5GB or so. We have also seen some customers complaining about the large number of downloads and installation failures in this type of mobile map installation.

Combining the above two ways to get data, mobile phone map in the update function design should pay attention to the following points:

Reduce resource consumption and provide tips for resource consumption

For online maps, reducing footprint and traffic consumption is a core technology. Of course, this is another mobile phone map of the technology-oriented function, therefore, data monitoring is required, such as vector maps and rendering solutions, as pointed out in the promotion of the gold map, which is equivalent to only 1/60 of raster tile maps (grid tiles are early map picture display schemes). Again such as Thailand for navigation to provide a new flow of traffic design, only 5K per kilometer navigation flow, and so on, these need to use space occupancy and flow consumption data to test. In addition, for real-time consumption of the application of traffic, it is recommended to provide traffic management functions, can view the flow or clear zero, so as to facilitate the user flow management and control. Of course, there are some other small details of the traffic, such as Baidu Mobile Map page version of the default homepage on the use of provincial traffic design.

The home page Unlike most mobile maps in the first page when the direct loading map, you can save some traffic consumption. For such traffic, such as navigation consumes a lot of functionality, need to add reminders, in advance to let users know, rather than let people complain afterwards.

Provide off-line function of regional common map

Combined with the advantages of off-line map, you can provide the current user's common urban map of the partition download, such as Shanghai map, Beijing map. For example, Sogou Mobile map iphone version has supported offline map download, offline browsing, but also support hundreds of cities across the country offline package download. Not only WiFi can be downloaded directly on the phone. You can also download it on your computer and import it with itunes. Another important feature here is that the platform will be able to provide the possibility to download in the work and home network environment, and can be copied to the phone, after all, we have been very accustomed to using a desktop computer to download large-capacity files, but do not use mobile phones. Of course, it is also necessary to prompt for the remaining space resources of the machine and to indicate the space that will be consumed when downloading.

Once the offline map is stored on this computer, it will cause the problem of the map expiration, so you must explicitly prompt the user the current version of the local map, whether there is a newer version, the version date and so on. Because in the mobile phone users demand research article found that many customers are asking about the map update problem. But be careful, do not because users are using an old version of the map, and prohibit users to use the entire map, Kay IPhone version of the map has been such a problem, which makes users very unhappy. The update of your own map must be backward compatible with your own software.