Fledgling Android app for Tech Comm on a Map

I’m very excited, because there’s an Android app on its way for Tech Comm on a Map. The Android app uses the same data source as the Tech Comm on a Map website – so you can see the same events on the map in both apps. In addition, you can add events to the map directly from within the Android app, and it does smart marker clustering too.

Tech Comm on a Map puts technical communication titbits onto an interactive map, together with the data and functionality provided by Google Maps. It’s already out there on the Web. See it in action on the Tech Comm on a Map website, and read more on this page.

And now the Android app

The code for the Android app is already on GitHub.  A group of us got together during a hackathon and created the initial version of the app. I’ve added to the app since then, and intend to continue improving it. Eventually I’d like to add it to the Google Play store. There’s a bit to do before that. :)

Friendly disclaimer: Although I work at Google, this app is not a Google product. It’s a personal project by me and the other contributors.

The Tech Comm on a Map app for Android is developed with Java and the Android SDK. It uses the following APIs:

Google Maps Android API
Google Places API for Android (Autocomplete and Place Picker)
Google Play services Fused Location Provider (Get Current Location)
Google Apps Script
Realm.io (a mobile database)
AndroidSlidingUpPanel (a draggable sliding-up panel)
Android Saripaar (a validation library):

If you’re interested in developments, follow the Tech Comm on a Map app for Android on GitHub. You can build it from the source and load it onto your Android device to try it out. It works. :)