iOS 6 Programming Cookbook

7.1. Creating a Map View

Problem

You want to instantiate and display a map on a view.

Solution

Create an instance of the MKMapView class and add it to a view or assign it as a subview of your view controller. Here is the sample .h file of a view controller that creates an instance of MKMapView and displays it full-screen on its view:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <MapKit/MapKit.h>

@interface Creating_a_Map_ViewViewController : UIViewController

@property (nonatomic, strong) MKMapView *myMapView;

@end

This is a simple root view controller with a variable of type MKMapView. Later in the implementation of this view controller (.m file), we will initialize the map and set its type to Satellite, like so:

#import "Creating_a_Map_ViewViewController.h"

@implementation Creating_a_Map_ViewViewController

- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning{
  [super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad{
  [super viewDidLoad];

  self.view.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];

  self.myMapView = [[MKMapView alloc]
                    initWithFrame:self.view.bounds];
  /* Set the map type to Satellite */
  self.myMapView.mapType = MKMapTypeSatellite;

  self.myMapView.autoresizingMask =
    UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth |
    UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;

  /* Add it to our view */
  [self.view addSubview:self.myMapView];

}

- (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation
        :(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation{
  return YES;
}

@end

Discussion

Creating an instance of the MKMapView class is quite straightforward. We can simply assign a frame to it ...