Map display

The Qt Location module provides developer access to geocoding and navigation information. It can also allow the user to do a place search for which the data needs to be retrieved, either from a server or from the user's device.

At the moment, Qt's map view does not support C++, only QML. This means that we can only use QML script to alter anything related to the visual—displaying a map, adding a marker, and so on; on the other hand, we can use the C++ classes provided by the module to obtain information from a database or from a service provider, before displaying it to the user via QML.

Just a quick note, QML (Qt Modeling Language) is a user interface markup language for Qt Quick applications. Since QML is powered by the JavaScript framework, its coding syntax is almost similar to the JavaScript. If you need an in-depth learning on QML and Qt Quick, please proceed to Chapter 14, Qt Quick and QML, as it is an entire chapter dedicated to it.

There are many tutorials out there that teach you how to create a fully fledged map viewer using Qt Quick and QML language, but there isn't a lot that teaches you how to combine C++ with QML. Let's get started!