Hi all,

I am currently rewriting a map based App which I wrote in the past, specifically for 2.2.1 devices. Originally I wrote it to make use of SQLite databases but I would like to try and migrate it over Core Data, now that it's available on 3.X (for which I am rewriting to). I am fairly experienced in iPhone/Obj-C development, SQL and server backend technologies, but I have never had the chance to work with Core Data so IDK really if it's the appropiate tool for what I am trying to accomplish.

The App works on a limited area in a map over which there are about 4000 placemarks, with different kinds of icons and sizes. Of course not all 4000 placemarks are shown at once but only those currently visible in the map viewport, and depending on the zoom level.

What I am doing right now is, after the user moves the map in any way (panning or zooming) I am requesting from the backend server the required information for the placemarks that would be visible given the viewport coordinates boundaries and zoom level, however the process isn't as smooth as I'd like (the backend is sending its response in XML and I am compressing it using gzip), it takes anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds to update the display of the placemarks after the user ends moving the map.

What I would like to do is to prefetch all the placemarks data at the App launch and use it all through the app life time - I don't mind storing it for later use because the data should be dynamic. The way I would do it right now is, after retrieving all the data, to store it on an SQLite db which I would query later, whenever the user moves the map, to return only the placemarks inside the viewport coordinate boundaries and specific to a given zoom level.

Now, the question itself is, if is it possible to use some more 'native', object driven way to carry this queries process, which got me thinking about Core Data and if it is in any way similar to what Google App Engine offers through its datastore where you can fetch a number of objects from the backend given a certain query or criteria, without resorting to an SQL query itself.

Like I said before I don't have any experience on Core Data but I have a pretty deep understanding of Obj-C and iPhone development, as well as SQL databases. Any guides on how to achieve what I'm trying (if possible at all) would be greatly appreciated.