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This article was published on March 5, 2013

Alternative iOS mapping SDK, MapBox, hits 1.0 with a host of improvements

Alternative iOS mapping SDK, MapBox, hits 1.0 with a host of improvements
Harrison Weber
Story by

Harrison Weber
Harrison Weber
Story by

Harrison Weber

Harrison Weber is TNW's Features Editor in NYC. Part writer, part designer. Stay in touch: Twitter @harrisonweber, Google+ and Email. Harrison Weber is TNW's Features Editor in NYC. Part writer, part designer. Stay in touch: Twitter @harrisonweber, Google+ and Email.

MapBox, a service for designing and publishing custom maps, has launched version 1.0 of its iOS SDK. According to MapBox, this release marks the “completion of the [SDK’s] first stage of functionality and stability” since it made its debut last year.

We originally highlighted the SDK, which is based on OpenStreetMap, post-launch for its high quality, customizable maps that challenged Apple’s own MapKit. Now, MapBox has received a number of new features and fixes, including improved documentation and changes which allow for easier memory management.

More specifically, MapBox shares that it has added a new code examples gallery, support for Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), improved documentation, code cleanups and consistency tweaks. Additional changes below:

  • Added delegate callbacks for annotation selection & deselection notification.
  • Added a long press gesture recognizer for annotation layers.
  • Added an API for setting an SDK-wide custom user-agent string for network requests.
  • Added a convenience method for MBTiles tile sources to more easily find them in your app’s bundle.
  • Allow selection of a nil annotation in order to deselect the current annotation.
  • Added an API for clearing MapBox marker local caching.
  • Map views now default to a watermarked MapBox Streets map instead of OpenStreetMap.
  • User location accuracy circle now bounces when first homing in on coordinate.
  • Compass heading path now adjusts width based on heading accuracy reading.
  • Annotation clustering API is now much simpler and easier to use.
  • Privatized some header files to reduce clutter during Xcode autocompletion.
  • Latest upstream improvements, including constraints, annotation z-ordering, and bounding box fixes.

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For more on the evolution of the MapBox iOS SDK, head here.