I am doing a project on criminal tracking using gps and i am not allowed to use the goole API as the work must be done solely by the student. I was wondering what kind of map is required to program such application.
I was using a screen shot of a map taken from Google earth and that would be in a bitmap format but i have heard that maps for these application are vector maps that hold information on their coordinates and locations and so on. Can someone brief me on what type of map i would required for an application such as this and how do i go about creating a vector map with stored data if that is necessary for the application.
Or can i use a bitmap image and store its information in a relational database based on x and y coordinated on the screen, i am not sure if that a good approach as well.
There are 2 widely used formats for GIS applications that you should look into ArcView and MapInfo. There are libraries that simplify the process of reading these formats as well. A GIS file typically stores data in layers. For instance, a street layer would contain a polyline for each street and store additional information such as the name of the street. There are also GIS libraries that help you with such tasks as reverse geocoding, which is the ability to change a GPS coordinate into the closest street name / landmark (something I imagine you might need).
If it’s for a sample you can take a photo of an area using Google Earth as you have already done and then store the various features as vectors on your own. A street would become a polyline, for example.
I hope this helps.