Preparations for mobile GIS app with CARTO SDK workshop

Jaak Laineste, @jaakl

Important: please install Android SDK tools as instructed below before workshop. It involves over 1GB download and it saves a lot of time and hassle on-site if you do it beforehand.

Requirements

A computer with:

Linux, Mac or Windows
Additional permissions to install software (Java JDK and USB Drivers) may be needed depending on your OS

A mobile device:

Decent Android device with Android version 4.0.2 or newer. Nexus 4 or newer would be perfect for example.
USB cable to connect device to your computer

Required skills:

Basic coding. Object-oriented development with Java would be great plus.

1. Install Android Studio

Download and install software

Download Android studio:

Go to Android Developer site https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html, download latest Android Studio package
Install the main app as instructed, with defaults

2. Start Android Studio, download Components

With first Studio start it downloads and installs required additional Android SDK components and dependencies
Standard Install type is just fine, it should show "create new project" wizard when preparations are done.
Be patient - many Android Studio steps (updates, builds etc) can take many seconds, even few minutes with very minimal progress indication

3. Prepare and connect to your Android device

Enable development mode for your Android device. Exact procedure depends a bit on your device and OS, you can just google "enable development ". Go to Development settings and enable USB Debugging. For example on most devices following works:
On some OS-s (i.e. Windows) you may need to install additional USB drivers, see more info here: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/win-usb.html. This is not needed on Mac (and probably Linux)
Connect your Android device with USB to the computer and it should ask debug permissions on device. Allow it.
Note: if you really want you can try using Android Emulator (a.k.a. virtual device), but this is much slower, and does not have (good) multi-touch for map pinch-zoom/tilt features.
To test connection create any basic new project for mobile device (not Watch) with new project wizard and next-next and run it on device with Run > Run 'app' from menu. You should see your device in list of targets as the first one, and selecting it installs and starts app on it.