Earthmap — Android Vector Map Engine

Archived2015Android Developer

A vector-based map engine for Android with a fluent preview UI and map-data editing, tuned for SQLite and native performance.

  • Android
  • Java
  • SQLite

Context

Full-time role at Earthmap (Yazd, 2015–2017) building mapping technology for Android devices — back when vector maps on mobile hardware were still a performance problem, not a solved one.

The problem

Rendering and editing vector map data on Android required working around two limits at once: storage (large GeoJSON and Shapefile datasets) and CPU (smooth interaction on native hardware). Off-the-shelf approaches were too slow or too generic.

What I built

  • A vector-based map engine module with a fluent UI for both previewing and editing map data.
  • Data structures designed for SQLite and native Android development, so large GeoJSON and Shapefile imports became practical on-device.
  • Supporting R&D comparing tools for API development by performance, feeding into the team's platform choices.

← All work