When I implemented a MapView with an ItemizedOverlay (the implementation steps are described in the Android developer documentation), I encountered a flaw in the API, or at least in the corresponding documentation. If you add an ItemizedOverlay to your MapView, but do not add any OverlayItems (which may be the default for your application, with OverlayItems being added during runtime), scrolling through the MapView causes the following NullPointerException:
ERROR/AndroidRuntime(232): java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.google.android.maps.ItemizedOverlay.getItemsAtLocation(ItemizedOverlay.java:617)
at com.google.android.maps.ItemizedOverlay.getItemAtLocation(ItemizedOverlay.java:586)
at com.google.android.maps.ItemizedOverlay.handleMotionEvent(ItemizedOverlay.java:498)
at com.google.android.maps.ItemizedOverlay.onTouchEvent(ItemizedOverlay.java:572)
at com.google.android.maps.OverlayBundle.onTouchEvent(OverlayBundle.java:63)
at com.google.android.maps.MapView.onTouchEvent(MapView.java:625)
at android.view.View.dispatchTouchEvent(View.java:3709)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:852)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1659)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1107)
at android.app.Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(Activity.java:2061)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1643)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:822)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1659)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1107)
at android.app.Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(Activity.java:2061)
at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1643)
at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1691)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4363)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:860)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
After long hours of debugging, I was able to find help in the Android Bug Tracking system. An easy workaround for this problem (which should really be addressed in the API and/or the corresponding documentation) is to add a call to the “populate()” function in the constructor of the class that extends ItemizedOverlay. Then, your subclass constructor should look like this:
super(boundCenterBottom(defaultMarker));
populate();
This solves the problem and scrolling, even without any OverlayItems, works like a charm.