I'm working on a Java/Eclipse SWT application that displays and edits map data captured by a special device in a stacked fashion, i.e. there are different layers of "geospatial features" that can be shown/hidden or modified. It was found to be helpful to have an aerial imagery layer which could be easily retrieved e.g. from google maps.
I thought of using the SWT Browser Widget to retrieve and render this satellite view, which actually works like a charm. The Problem is that I need to have a hidden Browser Widget which would work in the background and return me a swt.graphics.Image etc. of the rendered content or even better directly use a given GC for drawing.
I also thought about simpler solutions but there are two restrictions:
- I can't just use static maps from Google because the map tile I need would have to be larger than they allow and the partial reloading that they provide (e.g. when moving the map view port) would also be very handy.
- I can't simply feed my data into Google Maps for several reasons.
So in general: How do I have a (hidden) instance of a Browser Widget render its output to an Image/GC instead of the screen. Is there something else except from the Browser Widget which could do the job?