A fast way to build a unique in-app nav experience
By: Eric Wolfe
Incorporating navigation into mobile platforms has historically been a tradeoff between kicking users out to a third party app or building natively from scratch. The updates to our Navigation SDK on mobile add a third option — easily build in-app navigation and customize as needed. To get started fast, we’ve added features like a drop-in user interface (UI), automatic day-to-night map switching, and automatic rerouting in traffic. For more customization, we’ve included special event milestones.
We also have a new tutorial on how to build a navigation app for iOS (Android coming next week).
On iOS, automatic day-to-night map switching between our recently updated navigation map styles improves map readability for drivers as light conditions change. Auto-rerouting looks for faster routes based on current traffic conditions and updates the directions without user input.
For Android, the drop-in UI includes a ready-to-use interface to handle text formatting, drawing of traffic-informed route lines, and high quality voice instructions from Amazon Polly. You can implement the UI with a few lines of code:
To improve customization, the framework for milestones on Android permits individualized alerts along a route line, which can accommodate use cases like a trucking navigation app that alerts truckers far in advance of a turn so they can safely change lanes. Alerts can be triggered at specified times and positions and provide additional relevant information to users, such as warnings or proximity notifications.
Get started with our new tutorial on how to build a navigation app in iOS (Android coming next week) or say hello to Mapbox sales to learn more about building with our stack.
Take control of navigation with the updated Navigation SDK was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.