Customizing annotation pins

Question

I would like to customize my annotations (pins) so I would be able to change its image. I used a function (mapview) to change the picture, so I don’t know if I should use it again to change the picture of another group of pins; let´s say I have two locations, a restaurant and a hospital, so I want to put a plate and a red cross respectively. Here is my function code:

func mapView(_ mapView: MKMapView, viewFor annotation: MKAnnotation) -> MKAnnotationView? {
    if annotation is MKUserLocation {
        return nil
    }
    var annotationView = mapView.dequeueReusableAnnotationView(withIdentifier: "identifier")
        if annotationView == nil{
            annotationView = MKAnnotationView(annotation: annotation, reuseIdentifier: "identifier")
            annotationView!.canShowCallout = true
            annotationView!.rightCalloutAccessoryView = UIButton(type: .detailDisclosure)

            let pinImg = UIImage(named: "curz")
            let size = CGSize(width: 50, height: 50)
            UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(size)
            pinImg!.draw(in: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: size.width, height: size.height))
            let resizedImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
            UIGraphicsEndImageContext()
            annotationView!.image = resizedImage
            }
    else {
    annotationView!.annotation = annotation
  }
return annotationView
}

Answer 1

You can return different annotation views for different places by comparing the coordinate information. ex:

if ((annotation.coordinate.latitude == theCoordinate1.latitude) 
    && (annotation.coordinate.longitude == theCoordinate1.longitude))

{ return someAnnotationView }

follow this link Adding different images to different annotation views in xcode

Answer 2

The correct way to return different views for different annotation types (or groups of different annotation types) is to subclass the annotation and assign a different reuse identifier for each one (during init). This identifier is similar to the table view cell identifier and is used to reuse (rather than create from scratch) a cell when it scrolls out of sight. The same is true for annotations, rather than create a new one each time a 'discarded' annotation can be reused.

Then in mapview viewfor annotation you can test for annotation.identifier And assign the correct image.