The picture above shows a Tweet, via Facebook, of a
blog posting announcing the open-sourcing of AREA-F, a
project we were proud to develop with the
Center for Realtor Technology
(CRT).
The project was a blast. We used the Android
Native
Development Kit (NDK) to create an efficient RETS client for the
Android platform.
The native RETS client interfaces with a RETS server inside a
user-friendly Android application we also programmed. The application allows listing
searches, photo displays, client email capability with pictures, and Google Maps integration.
We also helped author a white-paper to pioneer
mobile
development in the Real Estate space.
"Mark's extensive background in the RETS and real estate
community made him an excellent choice to work on the NAR mobile
project AREA-F, theAndroid Real Estate Application Framework. His
innovation and ability to dive into new technology proved essential
in understanding the Android Development Environment to enable
native mapping and other multimedia extensions into the project."
said Chris McKeever, Managing Director, CRT
Most Android programming is in Java, which we did in Eclipse, but
the NDK portion of our project was programmed in C which allowed us
to bypass the Dalvik Virtual Machine (Android's equivalent of a JVM)
for performance reasons. We ported several libraries to our
Android project and deployed the project to a G1, MyTouch, Cliq,
Droid, and Nexus One running versions of Android from 1.5 to 2.0.
'This project showcased the ability of Digital Construction
to work well with new technologies while leveraging past
experience for a fantastic client experience." said Mark
Scheel, Principal at Digital Construction.
Here are
screenshots of the application shown
running in the developer emulator:
We'll be at
Google IO 2010 in a couple weeks and can't wait to dive
deeper into Android at the conference. If you can't make
Google IO but want your development team to be up to speed,
consider our
Google Technology Package. The one day
consulting session for teams of up to 20 developers, will be
available June 1, 2010. The interactive learning
experience will focus on Android, Search Engine Optimization
(SEO), and Enterprise Development Trends.
Contact Us to schedule your training!