iOS 6 Application Development For Dummies

Chapter 17

Finding Your Way

In This Chapter

Using the MapKit framework

Specifying and changing the type, location, and zoom level of a map

Identifying the iPad’s current location

Annotating significant locations on the map

One of the things that makes an iOS app compelling is the ability you have as a developer to incorporate the user’s location into the application functionality. One of the more compelling ways to do that is through the use of maps.

Including the capability to display a map in an application became important as people began to realize the kinds of solutions that can be delivered on the iPad or iPhone. To many travelers, nothing brands you as a tourist like unfolding a large paper map (except, of course, looking through a thick guidebook). In this chapter, I show you how to take advantage of the device’s built-in capability to display a map of virtually anywhere in the world, as well as its capability to quickly determine the device location and then indicate it on the map. As I mention way back in Chapter 1, this awareness of your location is one of the things ...