Custom Map Tiles (Part 5 - offline maps on iOS)

Part 1 - MapCruncher
Part 2 - TileMill
Part 3 - TileStache
Part 4 - Programmatically
Part 5 - Offline Maps on iOS

In this post I'm going to create an iOS mapping application, with the added benefit of using my own map tiles served offline, i.e, deployed with the application without requiring network connection.

I'm going to use a library called MapBox-ios-sdk and the tiles will be created using TileMill and served in the .mbtiles format.

Load-Testing ASP.NET MVC (Part 3 - JMeter (slightly more) advanced)

Part 1 - Apache Workbench
Part 2 - JMeter introduction
Part 3 - JMeter (slightly more) advanced

As promised, in this post I'm going to explain some more JMeter stuff. So, I'll show how to:

• Submit information (HTTP POST)
• Handle authentication
• Particularly in the ASP.NET MVC context
• Read information from a page and store it in a variable
• Particularly to read the ASP.NET MVC anti-forgery token
• Vary the posted data by reading it from a CSV file

Also, I'll include some extra elements to make the test more maintainable and professional.

So, again, lots of ground to cover so lets get started.

Load-Testing ASP.NET MVC (Part 2 - JMeter introduction)

Part 1 - Apache Workbench
Part 2 - JMeter introduction
Part 3 - JMeter (slightly more) advanced

Although Apache Workbench provides some simple and useful metrics it's a little bit limited. In this post I'm going to talk about a much more powerful tool for load-testing: JMeter (also from the Apache Foundation).

I'll start by replicating the previous experiment that I did with Apache Worbench but using JMeter, and gradually adding more complexity to it.

Load-Testing ASP.NET MVC (Part 1 - Apache Workbench)

Part 1 - Apache Workbench
Part 2 - JMeter introduction
Part 3 - JMeter (slightly more) advanced

Performance is a critical aspect of most applications. Everything may be pretty, really well developed, intuitive and all, but if the performance is not up to par the user experience is going to suck.


Unfortunately most of these performance problems only show themselves after some time in production, making them much more cumbersome to solve and handle.

In this post I'm going to talk about something that should, IMHO, be integrated in the development lifecycle before the application goes live: Load-tests.

Custom Map Tiles (Part 4 - Programmatically with EF 5)

Part 1 - MapCruncher
Part 2 - TileMill
Part 3 - TileStache
Part 4 - Programmatically
Part 5 - Offline Maps on iOS

Hi,

After a pause from mapping related stuff, I couldn't resist going back for some more, especially having just downloaded Visual Studio 2012 RC1.

In this post I'm going to show how to create tiles programatically at server-side using .NET 4.5 and Entity Framework 5 RC 1.

I'll basically create an ASP.NET MVC 4.0 application which handles http tile requests, uses Entity Framework to fetch spatial data from a SQL Server database and produces a bitmap image using GDI+. Then I'll show these tiles on a Leaflet Map. This seems too much trouble for what is worth but sometimes you just need the extra control to do stuff that otherwise would be really difficult to do.

As usual I'm going to show most of the steps to get this thing working, just jumping some hoops on simpler stuff. Anyway, even if some steps seem less clear I'm including a zip file with the whole solution.

Create 3D objects inside Cocos2D-x (Part 2 - Menus)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Menus

In my previous post I've created a very rough experiment showing some 3D boxes on top of the default Cocos2d-X template.

In this post I'm going to create something a little bit more useful: a level selection mechanism in 3D. This demo uses some additional concepts like:

• Texturing
• Changing the POV (Point-of-view) based on the device accelerometer
• Click-detection

When launching the application we have the following screen:

Create 3D objects inside Cocos2D-x (Part 1 - Introduction)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Menus

Cocos2D-x is, as you might infer from its name, a 2d gaming library. But, as it uses OpenGL internally to draw its stuff, we might leverage it to create some 3D objects on the mix.

In this post I'm going to show how to create a  bunch of animated 3D boxes inside a Cocos2D-X scene mixed with 2D sprites.

Although I don't recommend using Cocos2D-x for making a complete 3D game, adding some 3D objects might bring some interesting effects.

Video Tutorial: Scrollable layer with Parallax (LevelHelper + Cocos2d-X)

A nice game level selection mechanism, particularly for "world" selection, is a scrollable layer that snaps to specific points. Also, I want to mix this with a parallax effect.

I've created a video tutorial that shows how to create this effect using LevelHelper, SpriteHelper and Cocos2d-x. Don't mind the sucky minimalistic "art" :)

It's my first video tutorial ever, so keep your expectations moderated :P

Mobile game development - The road so far

I've loved gaming since my first Spectrum in 86. Although I don't play as much as before I still try to find the time for some Skyrim, Battlefield, Uncharted, etc.

Anyway, that's the "consumer" side of it. Some months ago I started to delve into game development, particularly on the mobile space. As I had just bought a Mac I decided to target iOS.

Long story short, this has been the road so far:

• Bought a Mac
• Enrolled in a Apple Developer Program (meaning, paid 100 usd)
• Stared at XCode and ObjectiveC scratching my head
• Researched
• Tried to develop a game
• Failed miserably
• (paused 6 months)
• Re-Research
• Current Time

Parsing UTFGrid data to polygons

I've talked previously about UTFGrid. It provides, as described by Development Seed, "a standard, scalable way of encoding data for hundreds or thousands of features alongside your map tiles".

So, to sum it up, if we have this image tile for the hexagons of one of my previous posts.

We would have a corresponding json file with this UTFGrid

         !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!###################$$$$$$$$$$$$$$%%
            !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!####################$$$$$$$$$$$$$$%%
             !!!!!!!!!!!!!!######################$$$$$$$$$$$$%%%
             !!!!!!!!!!!!!!######################$$$$$$$$$$$$%%%
             &&&&&&&&&&&&&&######################''''''''''''%%%
            &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&####################''''''''''''''%%
            &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&###################''''''''''''''%%
           &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&##################''''''''''''''''%
           &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&#################'''''''''''''''''
          &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&################''''''''''''''''''
         &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&##############'''''''''''''''''''
         &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&##############'''''''''''''''''''
        &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&############''''''''''''''''''''
        &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&############''''''''''''''''''''
        &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&((((((((((((''''''''''''''''''''
         &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((('''''''''''''''''''
          &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((((''''''''''''''''''
          &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&((((((((((((((((''''''''''''''''''
           &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((((((('''''''''''''''')
           &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((((((('''''''''''''''')
            &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&((((((((((((((((((((''''''''''''''))
             &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&((((((((((((((((((((('''''''''''''))
             &&&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((((((((((('''''''''''')))
             **&&&&&&&&&&&&(((((((((((((((((((((('''''''''''+)))
             ***************(((((((((((((((((((((+++++++++++++))
            ****************((((((((((((((((((((++++++++++++++))
           ******************((((((((((((((((((++++++++++++++++)
           ******************((((((((((((((((((++++++++++++++++)
          ********************((((((((((((((((++++++++++++++++++
          *********************(((((((((((((((++++++++++++++++++
         **********************((((((((((((((+++++++++++++++++++
         ***********************(((((((((((((+++++++++++++++++++
        ************************((((((((((((++++++++++++++++++++
        ************************(((((((((((,++++++++++++++++++++
         ***********************,,,,,,,,,,,,,+++++++++++++++++++
         **********************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,+++++++++++++++++++
          ********************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++++++++
          ********************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++++++++
           ******************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++++++-
            *****************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++++--
            ****************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++++--
             **************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++---
             **************,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,++++++++++++---
             ..............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,////////////---
            ................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,//////////////--
            .................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,//////////////--
           ..................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,////////////////-
           ...................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,/////////////////
          ....................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,//////////////////
         ......................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,///////////////////
         ......................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,///////////////////
        ........................,,,,,,,,,,,,////////////////////
        ........................,,,,,,,,,,,,////////////////////
        ........................000000000000////////////////////
         ......................00000000000000///////////////////
          .....................000000000000000//////////////////
          ....................0000000000000000//////////////////
           ...................00000000000000000////////////////1
           ..................000000000000000000////////////////1
            ................00000000000000000000//////////////11
            ................00000000000000000000//////////////11
             ..............0000000000000000000000////////////111
              .............0000000000000000000000//////////22111
                          00000000000000000000000222222222222111

Entity Framework 5 and Spatial Data (Part 2 - Comparison with NHibernate Spatial)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Comparison with NHibernate Spatial

As promised in my previous post I'm going to do a comparison between NHibernate Spatial and Entity Framework.
 
I'll start by making a pros/cons list for both libraries, but just focusing on items that may differ between them.

 NHibernate Spatial

Pros:

• True abstraction from the database with IGeoAPI/NetTopologySuite
• Works with .NET 3.5 and newer

Cons:

• No longer actively developed
• Querying with LINQ/QueryOver doesn't work in many cases
• Some spatial operators are not implemented

Entity Framework 5 Beta 2 Spatial

Pros:

• Setup is a breeze
• Querying with LINQ works flawlessly.
• Natively integrated with Entity Framework

Cons:

• The DbGeography/DbGeometry types belong to System.Data.Spatial. Therefore, we're always tied to the database model, even if just conceptually.
• Requires .NET 4.5 (at least in the Beta 2. I don't know if support for 4.0 is on the road)

Entity Framework 5 and Spatial Data (Part 1 - Introduction)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Comparison with NHibernate Spatial

I've blogged a lot on NHibernate Spatial. Although it works nicely, it seems to have been left for dead. It no longer compiles without modifying the source code and has many missing features and bugs.

On the other hand, Entity Framework is finally receiving native Spatial Support on version 5 (it's about time). Although it still is in Beta 2, I believe it's time to check it out and to see how it fancies itself. I'm going to create an example using it against a SQL Server database.

I'm going to use the following model:

• There are 18 districts, each defined by a polygon
• The are about 140.000 places, each defined by a geographic point

I've already used this model on a previous blog post.

I'll create two separate projects:

• Class library with the model
• Console application with some spatial operations

Maps and Boardgames (Part 3 - Client Side drawing + Optimizing)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Using server tiles
Part 3 - Client side drawing

In my previous post I've shown how one may interact with an hexagon layer on top of a Leaflet map.  The particular thing in that example is that it used hexagons embedded in the server-side tile images (created using TileMill). This has some pros and cons:

Pros:
- great performance
- works on most browsers (even pre-HTML5)
- less "visual noise", as the map is rendered at the same time as the hexagons (heck, they're in the same image tiles)

Cons:
- by itself it's difficult to have client-side behavior. It's possible using something like the UTFGrid technology, but that brings some additional complexity to the table and some limitations (I've used this approach in my previous post).
- the hexagons are static. So, if for example, we want to generate the hexagons with a different size or color or change them dynamically we're kind of screwed.

In this post I'm going to try a different approach, and return to the HTML5 Canvas implementation that I've started in the first post of this series.

Maps and Boardgames (Part 2 - Using server tiles)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Using server tiles
Part 3 - Client side drawing

In my previous post I've created an hexagon layer in client-side using HTML5 Canvas. In this post I'm going to generate the hexagons on the server and display them on a map. So, the roadmap for this post will be:

• Generate the hexagons  in C#
• Store them as spatial data in SQL Server 2008 using NHibernate Spatial
• Use QuantumGIS (or any other GIS tool for that mater) to read that data and tweak it 
• Use Tilemill to generate a layer of .mbtiles, including UTFGrid data of the hexagons
• Extract the .mbtiles file to image files
• Use the data on a Leaflet map.
• Create some basic interaction on the map

If you want you can skip to the end result.

Now, we've got two options for this. We can create hexagons that overlay perfectly on top of the map, all of them having the same pixel size, or all have the same edge size in meters, regardless of where they are on the world.

Maps and Boardgames (Part 1 - Introduction)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Using server tiles
Part 3 - Client side drawing

Hi all.

If you have seen some of my posts you've probably suspected that I like spatial stuff :). I would like to make an experiment where I'm going to make some kind of boardgame engine on top of a map (probably Leaflet).

It will be a little bit useless but should be a fun exercise to apply some of the stuff that I've been talking about, like html5 canvas, tile maps, leaflet, UTFGrids, etc.

NHibernate Spatial (Part 4 - Querying)

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - First Demo
Part 3 - Improving
Part 4 - Querying 
Part 5 - NHibernate 3.3.1+

In my previous NH Spatial post I've shown a concrete end-to-end example of how to use NHibernate Spatial on an ASP.NET MVC project.
Anyway, there's still much to be said about using this library and I've received some hits on my blog from people who were searching for how to do specific spatial operations with NH Spatial. So, this blog post will be pretty much practical, showing some spatial queries using NH Spatial on SQL Server 2008 R2, taking into account some variables in the process:

• Geography (always assuming SRID 4326)  and Geometry data types
• HQL and LINQ
• NHibernate version

Custom Map Tiles (Part 3 - TileStache)

Part 1 - MapCruncher
Part 2 - TileMill
Part 3 - TileStache
Part 4 - Programmatically
Part 5 - Offline maps on iOS

In my previous post all the map tiles were pre-rendered and stored in the filesystem. Although that approach brings more flexibility it also has some disadvantages: storage and time.

Imagine that we want to store tiles for every zoom level covering the whole world. We would be talking probably about Pentabytes of information. Even if we just stored all the zoom levels for some countries it would be probably lots of Terabytes. Space is cheap, but we're talking about a whole new level here.

Probably even worse than the storage, it would take ages to render all of the required tiles. Without enough computational power we could be looking at months (or more) to render all the tiles. 

So, in this post, I'm going to present a realistic alternative: using a Tile Server to generate and cache map tiles on-the-fly. I'm going to use TileStache for this.

Custom Map Tiles (Part 2 - TileMill)

Part 1 - MapCruncher
Part 2 - TileMill
Part 3 - TileStache
Part 4 - Programmatically
Part 5 - Offline maps on iOS

In my previous post I've shown a really simple way of overlaying custom map tiles on top of Bing Maps using MapCruncher.

One of the problems with that approach is that it only works for raster files. If one needs to do more complex stuff like creating tiles with data from shapefiles, kml or databases then a different method/tool must be used.

We have three challenges here:

1. How do we create a raster map representation of our raw data?
2. How do we split that image in tiles?
3. How do we serve those tiles to the map client (like Bing/Google maps)? 

I'm going to use a tool that simplifies this process without sacrificing any quality on the process: TileMill. TileMill is, like stated in their homepage, "an application for making beautiful maps". It uses a Mapnik core to render the maps, and provides a very simple UI and a CSS-like language to style them. I could praise the application a little bit more but I prefer to show you.

Custom Map Tiles (Part 1 - MapCruncher)

Part 1 - MapCruncher
Part 2 - TileMill
Part 3 - TileStache
Part 4 - Programmatically
Part 5 - Offline maps on iOS

When drawing overlays on top of a map one can choose between two different methods: custom map tiles or using the map API.

On this series of posts I'm going to show what are custom map tiles, how overlaying them compares to using the map API in client-side and finally how to interact with the tiles.

ASP.NET MVC 4 (Part 2 - Mobile Features)

In its newer release ASP.NET MVC has brought better support for mobile devices. How so?