Migrate from Mapbox
This tutorial contrasts the TomTom SDKs with the Mapbox SDK, showing the most important differences between them. For this purpose, a simple navigation application was created using Mapbox and TomTom SDKs. The application displays a map with the user’s location on it. Next, the app draws a marker at a place that the user has selected with a long click on the map. It then calculates a route from the user’s location to the selected destination and adds it to the map. Finally, it performs navigation along the route.
This tutorial compares the TomTom SDK to the Mapbox Navigation SDK. Some implementations may vary from the Mapbox Maps SDK.
Project setup
The Navigation SDK for iOS is only available upon request. Contact us to get started.
- Install Xcode if you don’t already have it.
- Create a new project or open an existing one. The application deployment target has to be set to at least 13.0.
- Install Cocoapods on your computer.
sudo gem install cocoapods
- Install cocoapods-art tool on your computer.
sudo gem install cocoapods-art to install cocoapods-art
- Because the repository for Navigation SDK is private, you will need to contact us to get access. Once you have obtained access, go to repositories.tomtom.com and log in with your account. Expand the user menu in the top-right corner, and select "Edit profile" → "Generate an Identity Token". Copy your token and put it, together with your login, in
~/.netrc
. If the file doesn’t exist, create one and add the following entry:1machine repositories.tomtom.com2login <YOUR_LOGIN>3password <YOUR_TOKEN> - Add a reference to the cocoapods-art repository:
pod repo-art add tomtom-sdk-cocoapods "https://repositories.tomtom.com/artifactory/api/pods/cocoapods"
- Then create a
Podfile
in the project folder. Thepod init
command in the project folder can generate a basic podfile. - At the top of the Podfile add the source of the SDK Cocoapods.
1plugin 'cocoapods-art', :sources => [2 'tomtom-sdk-cocoapods'3]
- Add the modules that your project requires. This tutorial uses the
TomTomSDKMapDisplay
,TomTomSDKRoutePlannerOnline
, andTomTomSDKNavigation
modules.1TOMTOM_SDK_VERSION = '0.2.3404'23target 'YourAppTarget' do4 use_frameworks!5 pod 'TomTomSDKMapDisplay', TOMTOM_SDK_VERSION6 pod 'TomTomSDKRoutePlannerOnline', TOMTOM_SDK_VERSION7 pod 'TomTomSDKNavigation', TOMTOM_SDK_VERSION8end - Install the dependencies by executing the following command in the project folder.
pod install
- To update the SDK version, run the command:
pod repo-art update tomtom-sdk-cocoapods
- Open the project’s
xcworkspace
. - Create a class with the TomTom API keys. These will be used later in the application.
1private enum Keys {2 static let MAPS_KEY = "YOUR_MAPS_API_KEY"3 static let ROUTING_KEY = "YOUR_ROUTING_API_KEY"4 static let NAVIGATION_KEY = "YOUR_NAVIGATION_API_KEY"5}
Displaying a map
Mapbox SDK
Before using the Mapbox SDK you must set the public access token in the Info.plist
.
- Initialize
NavigationMapView
. This draws aMapView
and provides additional functionality such as drawing a route.navigationMapView = NavigationMapView(frame: view.bounds) - Add the initialized
MapView
to the parent view.view.addSubview(navigationMapView)
TomTom SDKs
To display a map in the TomTom SDK for iOS:
- Set the valid TomTom API key.
MapsDisplayService.apiKey = Keys.MAPS_KEY
- Initialize the
MapView
. This is used to display a map in the view hierarchy.let mapView = MapView(frame: view.frame) - Add the initialized
MapView
to the parent view.view.addSubview(mapView) - Most actions performed on the map are made using the
Map
object. It can be accessed only when the map is fully initialized. Learn more about it in the Adding a map guide.1mapView.getMapAsync { map in2 self.map = map3}

Showing user location
To access the user location you must configure the following purpose strings in the Xcode build setting or in
Info.plist
:NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription
,NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription
, orNSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription
. The correct key must be included or authorization requests immediately fail and the map cannot get the user location.
Mapbox SDK
To show the user location on the map in the Mapbox SDK you must set UserLocationStyle
.
view.addSubview(navigationMapView)
To move the camera to the user location, set the ViewportDataSource
.
1navigationMapView.navigationCamera.viewportDataSource = NavigationViewportDataSource(2 navigationMapView.mapView,3 viewportDataSourceType: .raw4)
TomTom SDK
To show the user location on the map, change the Map.LocationIndicator
to either userLocation
or .navigationChevron
. By default, CLLocationManager
is used as the source of location updates. However, you can also provide your own source. Learn more about user location in the Showing the user’s location guide.
map.locationIndicatorType = .userLocation
By default the center button is hidden. To show it, change its visibility using MapView
.
mapView.currentLocationButtonVisibilityPolicy = .hiddenWhenCentered
You can also set the camera to follow the user’s location. To follow the user’s location use CameraTrackingMode.follow
.
map.cameraTrackingMode = .follow

Adding a marker
Mapbox SDK
- Adding a marker in the Mapbox SDK is done with
PointAnnotationManager
. Create it usingAnnotationOrchestrator
.let pointAnntotationManager = navigationMapView.mapView.annotations.makePointAnnotationManager() - Initialize
PointAnnotation
to represent the marker. Use this to configure the appearance and properties of the marker.var pointAnnotation = PointAnnotation(coordinate: coordinate)pointAnnotation.image = .init(image: UIImage(named: "marker_pin")!, name: "destination") - Set the created
PointAnnotation
to the collection managed byPointAnnotationManager
.pointAnntotationManager.annotations = [pointAnnotation]
TomTom SDK
To add a marker in the TomTom SDK complete the following steps:
- Create the
MarkerOptions
object with the marker properties. You can use this object to configure the appearance of the marker.let markerOptions = MarkerOptions(coordinate: coordinate, pinImage: UIImage(named: "marker_pin_image")!) - Set the created
MarkerOptions
to theMap
object. NOTE: If adding a marker fails, an exception is thrown. Learn more about working with markers in the TomTom SDK Adding a Marker document._ = try? map.addMarker(options: markerOptions)
Drawing a route
This section describes how to calculate and draw a route from the user location to a chosen destination.
Mapbox
The first step is to get the coordinates of the user’s current location. The current location is used as the starting point of the calculated route.
+
guard let userCoordinate = navigationMapView.mapView.location.latestLocation?.coordinate else { return }
- Wrap the prepared origin and destination coordinates in the
Waypoint
class and provide them to theNavigationRouteOptions
constructor.1let origin = Waypoint(coordinate: userCoordinate)2let destination = Waypoint(coordinate: destination)34let routeOptions = NavigationRouteOptions(waypoints: [origin, destination], profileIdentifier: .automobileAvoidingTraffic) - Calculate routes with the given options. The result is returned via the closure provided as a parameter.
1Directions.shared.calculate(routeOptions) { _, result in2 switch result {3 case .failure:4 // failure case5 break6 case let .success(response):7 guard let route = response.routes?.first else { return }8 self.drawRoute(route: route)9 }10}
- Finally, draw a calculated route on the map. You can also mark waypoints on the route.
1private func drawRoute(route: Route) {2 navigationMapView.show([route])3 navigationMapView.showWaypoints(on: route)4}
TomTom SDK
The TomTom Routing API allows the app to easily calculate a route between two points, add waypoints, and specify other route properties. The requested Route
can then be drawn on the map. Detailed information about routing in the TomTom SDK is found in the Routing module documentation. A good place to start is the Quickstart guide.
Before using the TomTom Routing service you need to provide a valid TomTom API key.
+
.
Next, initialize TomTomRoutingService
. This is the entry point for the routing service.
+
.
Now build a routing request using RoutePlanningOptions
. You can configure the request to fit your requirements. Learn more about planning a route with different parameters in the Planning a Route document.
+
1let amsterdamCoordinate = ItineraryPoint(coordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(52.3764527, 4.9062047))2let berlinCoordinate = ItineraryPoint(coordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(52.5069751, 13.3631919))3let hagueCoordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(52.078663, 4.288788)4let hagueAddress = Address()5let hagueWaypoint = ItineraryPoint(coordinate: hagueCoordinate, name: "The Hague itinerary point", address: hagueAddress)6var itinerary = Itinerary(origin: amsterdamCoordinate, destination: berlinCoordinate, waypoints: [hagueWaypoint])78let routingOptions: RoutePlanningOptions9do {10 routingOptions = try .init(11 itinerary: itinerary,12 costModel: .init(routeType: .efficient),13 vehicle: Bus()14 )15} catch {16 print("Invalid planning options: \(error.localizedDescription)")17 return18}
- Perform a request using the previously-built
RoutePlanningOptions
as a parameter. A result is returned via the provided closure.1routePlanner.planRoute(options: routingOptions, onRouteReady: nil) { result in2 switch result {3 case let .success(response):4 if let route = response.routes?.first {5 self.drawRoute(route)6 }7 case .failure:8 // failure case9 break10 }11}
Finally, use the Route
calculated by the routing service to draw it on the map. The RouteOptions
class can be used to customize the appearance of the route. Learn more about adding a route to the map in the Route Planning and Driving document.
+
1private func drawRoute(_ route: TomTomSDKRoute.Route) {2 let routeOptions = RouteOptions(coordinates: route.geometry)3 _ = try? map.addRoute(routeOptions)4}
Navigation
The last part of this tutorial is about navigation along the previously-calculated route. Navigation shows the current speed limit, the next maneuver, and the estimated remaining time and distance for the trip.
Mapbox SDK
In the Mapbox SDK for iOS, navigation can be completely handled by NavigationViewController
. It provides a separate view with the map and UI components. It shows the information required for navigation such as maneuvers, estimated time, and voice instructions.
let navigationViewController = NavigationViewController(for: routeResponse, routeIndex: 0, routeOptions: routeOptions)
Then present the initialized NavigationViewController
.
present(navigationViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
If you want to observe navigation updates such as arrival, rerouting, or progress, you must use NavigationViewControllerDelegate
.
TomTom SDK
This tutorial contains a superficial description of navigation. If you want to learn more about how to use the Navigation SDK, you can read the guides. A good place to start is the Navigation quickstart guide.
In the TomTom SDK for iOS, navigation is handled in a slightly different way than in the Mapbox SDK. It does not provide an additional controller for navigation, meaning that you have to make visual adjustments on your own.
The entry point to interact with navigation is in the Navigation
class. Therefore it must be initialized before starting a trip session. Navigation can be configured using NavigationConfiguration
. It requires a valid TomTom API key and the RoutingService
that is needed for route replanning during navigation. You can set custom engines such as LocationProvider
. Learn more about Navigation modularization in the Navigation modularization document.
1let locationEngine = DefaultCLLocationProvider()2let navigationConfiguration = NavigationConfiguration(3 apiKey: Keys.NAVIGATION_KEY,4 locationProvider: locationEngine,5 routeReplanner: DefaultRouteReplanner(routePlanner: routePlanner, replanningPolicy: .findBetter)6)7navigation = Navigation(configuration: navigationConfiguration)
Once navigation is initialized and the Route
is calculated, you can start it. To use turn-by-turn navigation, provide the RoutePlan
property to the navigation start method. It requires the calculated Route
and RouteOptions
that are used in route replanning.
1let routePlan = RoutePlan(route: route, routingOptions: routingOptions)2let navigationOptions = NavigationOptions(activeRoutePlan: routePlan)3navigation.start(navigationOptions: navigationOptions)
For a better user experience, change the location indicator to a chevron and set the appropriate camera tracking mode.
map.cameraTrackingMode = .followRoutemap.locationIndicatorType = .navigationChevron
The last recommended step is setting the map-matched location provider from the Navigation
to the Map
. This matches the raw location updates to the route and provides a predicted location to give the best user experience in the event that the GPS loses the signal.
map.locationProvider = navigation.mapMatchedLocationProvider
TomTomNavigationDelegate
can be used to get more information from the navigation session. This includes the observation of its progress, instructions, and replanning. Set it to the Navigation.delegate
property. It may also be useful to implement the navigation UI components.