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Is it possible to download map image data ? Different Images are required at different zoom level? Why I am asking for it? I live in a developing country where internet access in mobile phone is not everywhere and most places the speed is not as fast as it should be to render map quickly. Download whole map for particular area/city/route can help users to browse offline. There are a lot use cases. Even I am only thinking for non -commercial version. |
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Not a direct answer to your question, but if your problem is being able to get at map data then you might consider a different way of carrying it around. One possibility that works on Android and newer Blackberries is Osmand. That's an application that displays vector maps (actually, it does much more besides). It depends on what you're displaying, but the data needed to display a vector map map of an area is much less than all the tiles at all zoom levels for that area. |
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It is not really what you are literally asking for - but I guess that you just want to view maps offline? Many applications and devices support that. Usually these downloads are no(!) map (raster) image data, but map vector data. The map view is more or less rendered on the device. Just search this site for "yourOperatingSystem offline" (or "download"). And/or view Offline OpenStreetMap (for Android OsmAnd is being currently most popular, in my opinion). Many people use OSM-based maps on Garmin devices. |
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If you are talking about Bing's imagery, the answer (in short) is a big NO. Because of copyright (please check Bing's terms of use). If you are talking about OSM's tiles, the answer is "maybe", because for small (what constitutes "small" in this case?), personal, non-commercial uses, it is acceptable to use (with attribution) the publicly accessible tile server. In any case I would ask a different question focusing on this point. In any case, yes, you would need to download one tile set for each zoom level for the area you need. OSM still does not provide rendered data "a la Google", that is, vector data that is rendered "on-the-fly" client-side. |
Your query is a bit too broad as there are a great many aspects that this subject encompasses.
Can you tell us in a little more detail what you want to do and you will get a more tailored and useful response.
Oh .. Why I am asking for it ?. I live in a developing country where internet access in mobile phone is not everywhere and most places the speed is not as fast as it should be to render map quickly. Download whole map for particular area/city/route can help users to browse offline. There are a lot use cases. Even I am only thinking for non -commercial version.
Please keep in mind that even if the image tiles are usually very small, for areas not so large, the number of tiles needed may be huge, depending on the zoom levels desired. And then, your problem turns from "network is too slow" to "not enough storage available on the devices".