handed in

so ive handed in my project its not fully how i imagined it i have had to take out the icon selection and the app is limited to the area of the uploaded xml with more time on it i could make it so it actively loads an xml based on the users position but because the xml files have to stay small so not to crash the app this would take a lot of time.
ive had some many issues that i was not able to finish the ghost but i will aim to get them working for the  exhibition to show off the the app as it should be

menus

here is my menu screen and information screen

collection sorted now to sort the score update

i luckly found this in the google api documentation
google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(latlng pointA, latlng pointB);
which calculates the distance in meters between to points which allowed me to found out the distance of the user from all the collectables i then did

if (distance < R)
{
colls.setMap(null);
}
R = a radius around the user
distance = the distance returned from google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween

so now as the user comes into contact with the collectables they are removed from the map
win
now i just need to add something like

send score(+10) or something to update a score

nearly there however i dont think i will have the time to make the ghost but i will try i have a bit of script that animates a mark alone a poly line so i should be able to change that to make my ghost but will have to see if i have time

marker test

ok so now the streets are full of markers now to change the image and add the score detection to them, then it will be ready to test almost there now

markers on roads

http://econym.org.uk/gmap/epoly.htm

this site give a .js with some extra function for google maps api v3 like how to calculate the distance of a polyline and how to place marks on a polyline at a set distance

size

ok so ive ran into an issue the size of the xml file it seems that the big the file the harder the iphone finds it to load all the polyline so at present ill just have to have a small area that is playable with then game

images

2 menu/load screen ideas made from a few of my sketched ideas

menu styles

so for the final style of my menus it was suggested in my last critic that an old horror movie style might look good so ive been looking at old posters for inspiration and have made a few sketches here are the main influences for my designs 

what i'm taking from these images is the way the horror element over shadows the main characters, with the frightned people of centre and the "monsters" taking up the centre of the images. i like how dark most of the images are and the way the images seem to capture action just before something bad is possible about to happen sort of leaving a viewer on edge wanting more.
(all the images are from google images. i searched old horror movie posters)

so my sketches take these elements into account ill post the digital images up once i have made them.

google api v2 to v3 xml

have now got the map data from the xml file into a 3 dimensional array, after parsing  my xml using google maps api v2 i found out that the GXml.parse does not exist in v3 big issues after looking for a few hours online i found a .js function that recreates the GXml.parse function in v2 within v3 happy days the result = i dont have to change very much of my script just attach the .js now to get the polly lines, ghost and collectables  on the roads

animated markers

found this
http://www.geocodezip.com/v3_animate_marker_directions.html

gives script on how to animate a marker also clearly divided up into its different sections so relatively easy to understand just to take take it apart and adapted  it to what i need for my ghosts
its slowly coming together

a bit of design

3 of my ghosts and a pac-man.
in relation to the game nearly have the polly-lines for the collectables done should be able to start game testing by the end of the week if all goes well, starting to change and look more at the look of the app

web hosts

finding it difficult to find a decent free web host that doesn't put loads of adverts over the page. instantfreewebsite.com is the worst i have found for ads. with 000webhosting.com having no adverts but is a very slow site

multi page web apps

ok so i found and adapted a bit of JS from iWebKit 5 that lets you make links to in web app mode that load in the same page which stops safari opening all the time if that makes sense

var multipage;

multipage=window.onload=function()
{
function fullscreen()
{
var a=document.getElementsByTagName("a");
for(var i=0;i<a.length;i++)
{


a[i].onclick=function()
{
window.location=this.getAttribute("href");return false
}

}
}
function hideURLbar()
{window.scrollTo(0,0.9)
}
multipage.init=function()
{
fullscreen();hideURLbar()
};
multipage.init()
}

just put the above in a .js file and linked it to every page and it works 

i win 

arrays of arrays searching arrays, arrays

current

so i need to make another array for the lat lng's then add them to the right nds so need something like if (nds == id add lat , lon )? something like that just so the nds are searched to find the id that is the same to get the nds lat, lng if that makes sense

progress ?

so at this stage i don't have loads of time left however with help i have gotten the map data from the xml from openstreetmap.org into an array :)
at the moment the format it
nd (street id numbers)
ref(a reference number to every latlng for that street)
so all i need to do know is use the ref to get the lat and lng and return it to the array(sounds a lot easier than it is)
making a two dimensional array in javascript isn't that simple because javascript doesn't have a pre defined variable so you have to build an array within an array
http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/twoarray1.shtml(just discovered the link tool)

after i have done that i need to pass the information from the array to a function to make the polly lines for the roads, then add all the markers
my project seems to be full of loops

if i can get this to work soon i need to move to plan B and just randomly place markers over the screen and then just have it so when the user is close to a marker they score points

possible break

ok so after a lot more help im now looking to us map data from openstreetmap.org to get all the latitude and longitude information for the roads around the user then use that to create a polly line which i can place markers on it dosent seem too complex at first glance but we shall see one massive benefit is that the site lets you export the map data as an xml so i can then just link the xml to my site to get the date one restriction is you cant get the date for the whole map just sections so to develop this web app so it can work anywhere i would need to divid the world map into grids down load the xml then give each an latlng area reference that would then be used with the users location to load the right xml for the users location but thats just me getting a head of myself need to get this working first