removed downsample

[marcinkolonko]

google maps uses a layout that has a tile background. it is implemented as a theme so it doesn't need time to load and people see from the start a background with loading images that are as big as the actual tiles.

i think it would be nice to implement this strategy as well.

when i think about it, is it possible for me to add a custom layout to mapview at this point?

[moagrius]

It'd be pretty easy to add this back in (a single background image, rather than each zoom level). Even having it change with zoom levels wouldn't be too tough, but IME it really impacted performance. It might be worth it to add as a public method, but until then you could add a background image normally to the first child of the MapView...

View child = MapView.getChildAt(0);
child.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.whatever);

(untested).

As far as adding a layout to the MapView's view tree, it's technically possible but probably won't act like you want it to. It has only a single child that serves as a clip. If you want to add controls or something like that, the best approach would be to use a FrameLayout or RelativeLayout and put the MapView at the bottom index, and the controls over top of that.

[moagrius]

closing this as task has been assigned to me in #14