MOSSMAP

The MOSSMAP is the main end-user application for Windows Mobile OS, developed using libraries and components from the MOSS4G Framework.

User Interface Brainstorm

The application GUI overview, screen size 240x340 pixels:

+------------+------------+
| MOSSMAP               X |   (1 navigation bar
+------------+------------+
|                         |
|                         |
|                         |   (2 map window 
|                         | 
|                         |
|                         |
|                         |
|                         |
|                         |
|                         |
+------------+------------+
| 1:1000 | lat/lon        |   (5 optional status bar (see below)
+------------+------------+
|[+][-][P][@][$][*][!][#] |   (3 main toolbar
+------------+------------+
| VIEW     <...>     MENU |   (4 soft keys
+------------+------------+

1) The navigation bar, also called tray, hosts the main navigation widget in Windows Mobile - START menu. If necessary, an application can request to hide it. Extra space on the screen can be used by map window or custom status bar (2-rows of information can be displayed).

2) The map window is responsible for

• rendering map layers: vector and raster, projected to 2D plane
• accept user's interaction with map through stylus taps and dragging

3) Toolbar is a single row widget hosting a number of buttons. Each button represent single command, for instance Zoom-in button, Feature Query button, etc. It's possible to host 8-9 buttons on standard 240 pixels width toolbar. The Toolbar is optional, but seems to be very common and useful to host most used commands.

4) The bar at the bottom of the screen hosts two Soft Keys and SIP button.

From ​What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 5.0 article:

Soft keys are the application modifiable keys appearing at the bottom of the screen that are tied to the hardware keys immediately below the screen. Soft keys have existed for Smartphone since the original release and have been valuable user productivity tools. On Pocket PC, soft keys can avoid the need for a stylus because they enable the user to interact with the application by using only one hand.

In the scheme above, both soft keys provide access to more than one option. The left key drops VIEW menu and the right key opens main MENU. Both menus can include a number of options. Note, it is recommended to not to add too many positions to menus, to not to make them scrollable.

5) Status bar is optional and not very common in Pocket PC/Smartphone applications. Status bar displayed on top of the toolbar is single-row widget. Some applications draw their own status bar on top of the screen, as a replacement for navigation bar. This custom status bar can display information in 1 or 2 rows.