Yesterday's funding post covered the model behind this week's releases. Here is the first one. PR #5264 brings mapping back into core with two components: a MapView that draws an entire map through Graphics with no native peer, and a NativeMap that embeds the platform's own map. Both sit behind one MapSurface API, so you can switch between them by changing a class name.
What is Codename One? Codename One is an open-source framework for building native iOS, Android, desktop, and web apps from a single Java or Kotlin codebase. Learn more at codenameone.com.
What was wrong with the old maps
For years the answer to "how do I show a map" was one of two things. The deprecated tile-based MapComponent fetched raster tiles and painted them, which worked but was frozen in time. Or you added the external codenameone-google-maps cn1lib, which embedded the actual Google Maps SDK as a native peer.
The cn1lib approach worked, but it locked you to one vendor. It embedded the Google Maps SDK specifically, so a device without Google Play, such as a Huawei phone, was a porting problem rather than a build setting. Being a native peer, the map was also a separate platform surface that only existed where the provider shipped, so it looked different on every platform, because it was a different map on every platform, and it did not exist at all in the simulator or on the web. None of that makes native maps wrong; it makes them one tool among two, which is exactly what this PR gives you.
