Application maps aren’t too difficult to plan. Experienced developers know very well what to do in order to offer their users a seamless experience. However, beginners may have a difficult time in figuring out all details they have to consider before integrating a map into an application. This article provides an outline of the process of planning application maps to help you get started with your work.

First of all, you need to know where you want your map to be centred. You may want the user to see his own location when he opens the map. In other apps, you may need to start from a specific view or from a fixed point. You need to program this into your app, otherwise you won’t have any control of this feature.

The other thing you need to set before you start integrating a map with your app is the scale. Most probably, you want your users to be able to scale the map by themselves. Nonetheless, you need to offer them an initial view, so you have to pick the best scale to display this map. This is also one of the initial parameters you have to set before proceeding with your development work.

Last but not least, you need to figure out what your users are going to be able to do with their maps. If you want them to be able to overlap various views, you need to program this feature right off the bat. You need to import all these layers into your app, otherwise they won’t be accessible to people wanting to make use of them. If you want your users to be able to annotate various points on the maps, you need to add this on your list of must-have features. Moreover, you may also want to enable them share these notes and observations with their social media friends. This means you need to integrate a sharing module to allow communication in real time across the most popular social media networks and websites.

A good planning process is the one that includes thorough testing at each level. You have to make sure everything works smoothly, so you need a team of testers to help you discover all bugs before you actually launch the final version of your application. This is what Beta versions are for, and this is also why you should consider offering free access to people at least in this early stage of your project. You can have a big number of testers working for you for free, as long as they love your app and you allow them to use it without having to pay. This is something all big software and video games companies do. You should learn from them and follow their example. Planning application maps is a complex work, so you are probably going to have a lot of bugs needing ironing. Don’t do everything by yourself, as your fans are always there for you. Let them be the first to use your app, and they are going to reward you with their feedback.