Getting the Altus SDK

Overview

Altus has quickly grown and evolved. Support varies somewhat across platforms and operating systems. Use this guide as way to make sense of what is where and for what.

iOS

Altus Legacy

• OS : iOS 5 and up
• non-ARC, but can be used in ARC projects if necessary
• Architectures: ARM 32-bit
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-75 latitude. Custom projection from +-75 latitude to poles.
• Ships as: iOS framework (created by custom build process to mirror how Apple lays out iOS frameworks)
• Framework name: ME.framework. Binaries are on GitHub here.
• Reference application name: Mapp. Source code is on GitHub here.
• Content generation - Clustered Markers, Terrain (limited), Vector, and Raster (limited) content creation can be done by metool (OS X and variants of Linux) metool binaries are on GitHub here.
• Refer to Mapp reference application for linker and framework dependencies.
• Some tutorials located here Altus 1.0 are still relevant, but the lion-share of knowledge can be gained by looking through the Mapp reference application. It exercise the entire engine.
• Can render vector tiles derived from MapShop designs and produced by metool.

Altus 1.x

• OS: iOS 6 and up
• Is ARC compliant
• Architectures: ARM 32 and 64-bit
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-75 latitude. Custom projection from +-75 latitude to poles.
• Ships as: iOS framework (created by custom build process to mirror how Apple lays out iOS frameworks)
• Framework name: AltusMappingEngine.framework. Binaries are on GitHub here.
• Reference application name: AltusDemo. Source code is on GitHub here.
• API Documentation is on GitHub here.
• Content generation - two options:
  • metool from the Legacy version (for binaries see above)
  • Altus Server 1.x series (binaries are not online, contact [email protected] if you want OS X versions you can try)

Altus 2.x

• OS: iOS 7 and up
• Unreleased - if you want to be a tester contact [email protected].
• Is ARC Compliant
• Architectures: ARM 32 and 64-bit
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-80 latitude. A conformal projection from +-80 latitude to poles, but LOD'd in a custom way. Makes content generation much simpler with existing tools but still enables efficient polar coverage.
• Framework name: AltusMappingEngine.framework. Binaries will be on GitHub.
• Reference application name: AltusDemo. Source will be on GitHub.
• API Documentation will be on GitHub
• Content generation - you will have one option:
  • Altus Server 2.x series (binaries 'may' be available...we are not sure how we want to distribute it yet)

Android

Altus 1.x

• OS: Android 4.x and up
• Architectures: ARM 32-bit ( x86 upon request)
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-75 latitude. Custom projection from +-75 latitude to poles.
• Ships as: JAR API wrapping a JNI native library.
  • Lib name: AltusMappingEngineAndroid. Binaries are on GitHub here.
• Reference application name: AltusDemo. Source code is on GitHub here.
• API Documentation is on GitHub here.
• Content generation - you have two options:
  • metool from the Legacy version (for binaries see above)
  • Altus Server 1.x series (binaries are not online, contact [email protected] if you want OS X versions you can try)

Altus 2.x

Not yet available.

Windows 8 Developers

Altus 1.x

• OS: Windows 8 and up
• Architectures: x86 32-bit ( others upon request)
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-75 latitude. Custom projection from +-75 latitude to poles.
• Ships as: C#-based .NET assemblies that wrap multiple native C++ DLL using the WinRT runtime.
  • Lib name: AltusMappingEngine. Binaries are on GitHub here.
• Reference application name: AltusDemo. Source code is on GitHub here.
• API Documentation is on GitHub here.
• Content generation - you have two options:
  • metool from the Legacy version (for binaries see above)
  • Altus Server 1.x series (binaries are not online, contact [email protected] if you want OS X versions you can try)

Altus 2.x

Not yet available.

Web Developers

Altus 1.x

• OS: Tested on Widows, OS X, Linux, and Android
• Architecture: Javascript JIT compilers and WebGL-enabled web browsers.
• Projection: Spherical mercator to +-75 latitude. Custom projection from +-75 latitude to poles.
• Ships as: Javascript library and html page with showing raster and vector maps.
• If you are interested in this release contact [email protected] and send you relevant links and samples.

Altus 2.x

Not yet available.

Other Builds

We have experimental and partial support for other platforms and operating systems. These include:

• Google Glass
• Windows Desktop
• OUYA
• A variety of gum-stick based Android devices

If you are interested in these, let us know.

Altus is very portable. If you have a C++ compiler and a GPU, Altus can most like be ported to your platform.