iOS 5 Programming Cookbook

6.0. Introduction

The Core Location and Map Kit frameworks can be used to create location-aware and map-based applications. The Core Location framework uses the internal device’s hardware to determine the current location of the device. The Map Kit framework enables your application to display maps to your users, put custom annotations on the maps, and so on. The availability of location services from the pure programming perspective depends on the availability of hardware on the device; if the hardware is there, it must be enabled and switched on for the Map Kit and Core Location frameworks to work. An iOS device with GPS services can use 2G, EDGE, 3G, and other technologies to determine the user’s location. Presently, almost all iOS devices support location services, but it is good programming practice to check the availability of location services before starting to use them, as we cannot predict whether in the future Apple will release a device with all hardware required to support location services.

To use the Core Location and Map Kit frameworks, you need to first add them to your project and make sure appropriate header files are imported. Follow these steps to add these two frameworks to your project:

1. Click on your project icon in Xcode.

2. Select the target to which you want to add the frameworks, as shown in Figure 6-1.

3. Select the Build Phases tab on the top (Figure 6-1).

4. Expand the Link Binary With Libraries box and press the + button.

1. In the dialog, you will see the list of all ...