Getting started in android

Hello. I’ve been programming in Android Studio for a while. I’ve been trying to get started with using OSM in my app, but I’m having a hard time understanding the steps and requirements for getting started. I’ve posted here as I think this forum will let me blab slightly more than in the help questions/answers.


Firstly, my end goal is an android app that tells me the speed limit of the road I’m currently on. Ideally, I would have a trigger onEnter/ onExit speed limit zone and maybe a onNoLimit (or ‘in wild’ or no data).

I do not need maps, or graphics or tiles.

I can already see what i think is JSON data from Overpass Turbo (It’s a 6 MB file for my city, but I’m fine with having user download this file for reusable data). I’m pretty sure I can use an async background class to download this data. I’ve queried/downloaded other such files from the net.

I would like to know radius to a point (node??). For example, if I’m within 200m of a school/playground (then I would present user with a different speed) << incidentally, my city doesn’t have enough data for school/playground maxspeed(conditional) zones, so I would also want to help build up the correct data…

It would be my intention to allow a user to set their own region.


I have tried to create a mySQL/sqLite table with my long list of lat/lon and then query/compare each item to my current location. I found out right away that isn’t really fast. And so I’m here. I think I read that using a library I can access and query the osm data much more quickly.

(maybe out of order):

Newbie Question1: Am I even going in the right direction? What library would I need to implement (I’m using Android Studio 3.4) And are there proper newie instructions for installing the library?

Newbie Question2: Although I have read several posts referring to the pethora of Android Dev tutorials, I haven’t seen anything remotely basic, ( like a OSM equivalent of an install and Hello World! tutorial).

Thank you in advance. I’m fine with ideas to get me going in the right direction. I don’t really need anyone to drop code on me. :slight_smile: