Switch to MapBox GL

[dalekunce]

No description provided.

[hallahan]

This will really bring the quality of the map component to the next level. A useful side project would be to extend the overpass api to serve straight vector tiles instead of xml. Also, it might be smart to add osm support to tippecanoe: https://github.com/mapbox/tippecanoe

[hallahan]

Last night I pulled down the lastest MapboxGL Native and build it for Mac Cocoa with no issues whatsoever--very impressed. I will experiment with the Android build and evaluate the LOE and if it is appropriate to make the switch at this point in the project.

[hallahan]

For Android, offline MBTiles has not yet been implemented. We have to either implement this or wait for it to be completed for this to be a viable option.

[hallahan]

I got MapboxGL Android running on the RedCross dev Galaxy S3 phone:

This is several light years better than the Mapbox Android SDK. One major thing that needs to happen: we need MBTiles support so we can store vector tiles offline. It's on Mapbox's todo list but not a priority.

The consensus is that this needs to be part of the native C++ library so all platforms can use it. There's tons of open implementations out there in Java, JavaScript, as well as some C++ that writes MBTiles in tippecanoe. So, I consider this an obtainable goal.

[hallahan]

Even Esri is doing it. We need to hop on this bus before it leaves the station:

http://video.esri.com/watch/4215/smart-mapping-with-vector-map-tiles

https://www.mapbox.com/blog/vector-tile-adoption/

[dalekunce]

I agree lets see if we can get mapbox to prioritize this.

[dalekunce]

The Amigo android renderer looks a little more advanced than the mapbox GL one at the moment.

[hallahan]

Let's consider this not an option unless Mapbox implements:

mapbox/mapbox-gl-native#584
mapbox/mapbox-gl-native#352

Also, engineering a pipeline to make vector tiles in a way that makes sense for our application is a major undertaking. Would we want Mapnik to do this, or one of Mapbox's more hip, newer alternatives?

cc/ @mikelmaron

[zugaldia]

Happy to report that that we're making good progress on offline and it's a current priority, you can follow the progress here: mapbox/mapbox-gl-native#2939