offline_tiles

pub package CI License: BSD-3-Clause

Your map goes blank when the network drops. offline_tiles keeps the map rendering with MBTiles-backed local fallback — pre-cache routes and regions, resolve tiles locally when offline.

Use offline_tiles when your map must keep rendering through connectivity loss. Separates what to cache (coverage tiers) from how tiles resolve at runtime.

Features

  • OfflineTileManager with cacheRoute(), cacheRegion(), and tileProvider
  • runtime tile resolution order: RAM cache -> MBTiles -> lower-zoom fallback -> online -> placeholder
  • pure Dart _core models for TileSourceType, CoverageTier, and TileCacheConfig
  • generated MBTiles-friendly workflow for offline-first Flutter maps

Install

dependencies:
  offline_tiles: ^0.4.0

Quick Start

import 'package:flutter_map/flutter_map.dart';
import 'package:latlong2/latlong.dart';
import 'package:offline_tiles/offline_tiles.dart';

final manager = OfflineTileManager(
  tileSource: TileSourceType.mbtiles,
  mbtilesPath: 'data/offline_tiles.mbtiles',
);

await manager.cacheRoute(
  routeShape: const [
    LatLng(35.1709, 136.9066),
    LatLng(34.9554, 137.1791),
  ],
);

final tileLayer = TileLayer(
  tileProvider: manager.tileProvider,
  urlTemplate: 'https://tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png',
  userAgentPackageName: 'com.example.app',
);

API Overview

API Purpose
cacheRoute() Register and optionally materialize T1 corridor caching
cacheRegion() Register and optionally materialize T2-T4 bounded caching
tileProvider Resolver-backed provider for flutter_map

Coverage Tiers

Tier Meaning Default expiry Default zooms
T1 corridor Active route corridor with 5 km buffer 30 days Z10-Z16
T2 metro User-initiated metro area cache 90 days Z9-Z15
T3 prefecture User-initiated prefecture cache 90 days Z7-Z13
T4 national User-initiated national overview cache 90 days Z5-Z10

Runtime Resolution Order

The runtime resolver is intentionally separate from the coverage tiers.

RAM cache -> MBTiles -> lower-zoom fallback -> online -> placeholder

This means runtime lookup does not try T1, then T2, then T3. It asks for the best local tile available for the requested coordinate and zoom, regardless of which coverage tier originally populated that tile.

Flags and Truthfulness

  • TILE_SOURCE=online means the app should prefer online raster tiles.
  • TILE_SOURCE=mbtiles means the app should prefer MBTiles if available.
  • MBTILES_PATH must point to a real file for local lookup to succeed.
  • Missing or unreadable MBTiles archives degrade to online or placeholder, depending on manager configuration.

Example

Run the package example:

flutter run -d linux -t example/lib/main.dart

The example shows:

  • online/offline mode toggle
  • current viewport caching plan
  • runtime status when no MBTiles archive is present

Works With

Package How
flutter_map manager.tileProvider plugs directly into flutter_map's TileLayer
routing_engine Cache tiles along a calculated route with cacheRoute()
latlong2 Shared coordinate types for route shapes

See Also

Part of SNGNav — 11 packages for offline-first navigation on Flutter.

License

BSD-3-Clause — see LICENSE.