Herelink custom android app using Google Maps SDK

[kasparjj]

Hi
@Alvin @Michael_Oborne @sidbh @philip

First of all, thanks for the amazing work done with the CubePilot ecosystem!

I would very much like try to extend the Herelink’s capabilities by allowing it to use a custom android app with a different map planning workflow not currently available in QGC or Solex. For now I have tested the Mapbox SDK for Android, but it has limited documentation. As I’m completely new to Android Development I would like to use Google Maps SDK instead, as they seem to have much better documentation and map features readily available. However, to use Google Maps SDK I would require to have Google Play Services installed on the Herelink.

I tried installing Google Play Services via the SD card, but after reboot ran into a bootloop with the Herelink logo flashing. To make the Herelink work again I had to reflash the Herelink firmware.

It would be amazing, if you could show a guide on how to install Google Play Services on the Herelink, as I would guess many users would like to develop custom mapping apps on the Herelink and benefit from the Google Maps SDK.

I found this topic with the same objectives, but no answers to the problem was shown:

Google Maps on Herelink

Hi All, We have built a custom flight app for Andriod devices. It runs great on smartphones with Google Maps SDK support. I flashed this android app on Herelink remote device with some mods for better compatibilty but it requires Google services for the Map to load. I need to install Gapps for it work but Herelink does not come with native recovery to flash additional packages. External package flashing apps like Flashify needs root permission to install Gapps. It will be great if someone can…

Best Regards,
Kaspar