Places Map (QML)

The example displays a map of the current location or, if no position is available, it uses Oslo/Norway. Subsequently a search for places matching the term "food" is performed and each result shown on the map.

Running the Example

To run the example from Qt Creator, open the Welcome mode and select the example from Examples. For more information, see Qt Creator: Tutorial: Build and run.

Local Search

To write the QML application that will show places on a map, we start by making the following import declarations.

import QtQuick
import QtPositioning
import QtLocation

Instantiate a Plugin instance. The Plugin is effectively the backend from where places are sourced from. Depending on the chosen plugin some manadatory parameters may be needed. In this case the OSM plugin is selected which does not have any mandatory parameters.

Plugin {
    id: myPlugin
    name: "osm"
    //specify plugin parameters if necessary
    //PluginParameter {...}
    //PluginParameter {...}
    //...
}

Next we instantiate a PlaceSearchModel which we can use to specify search parameters and perform a places search operation. For illustrative purposes, update() is invoked once construction of the model is complete. Typically update() would be invoked in response to a user action such as a button click.

PlaceSearchModel {
    id: searchModel

    plugin: myPlugin

    searchTerm: "food"
    searchArea:  QtPositioning.circle(positionSource.lastSearchPosition, 1000 /* 1 km radius */)
    Component.onCompleted: update()
}

The map is displayed by using the MapView type and inside we declare the MapItemView and supply the search model and a delegate. An inline delegate has been used and we have assumed that every search result is of type PlaceSerachesult. Consequently it is assumed that we always have access to the place role, other search result types may not have a place role.

MapView {
    id: view
    anchors.fill: parent
    map.plugin: myPlugin;
    map.center: positionSource.lastSearchPosition
    map.zoomLevel: 13

    MapItemView {
        model: searchModel
        parent: view.map
        delegate: MapQuickItem {
            coordinate: place.location.coordinate

            anchorPoint.x: image.width * 0.5
            anchorPoint.y: image.height

            sourceItem: Column {
                Image { id: image; source: "marker.png" }
                Text { text: title; font.bold: true }
            }
        }
    }
}

Finally, a PositionSource is used to reset the map to the curent location and find "food" places in the new area. The position information is updated every 2 minutes and if the new position is more than 500 meters away from the last food search area the place search is retriggered.

PositionSource {
    id: positionSource
    property variant lastSearchPosition: QtPositioning.coordinate(59.93, 10.76) //Initialized/Fallback to Oslo
    active: true
    updateInterval: 120000 // 2 mins
    onPositionChanged:  {
        var distance = lastSearchPosition.distanceTo(position.coordinate)
        if (distance > 500) {
            // 500m from last performed food search
            lastSearchPosition = positionSource.position.coordinate
        }
    }
}

Example project @ code.qt.io