Interaction of SVG Images in Your iOS App

Originally published on Medium — December 6, 2019

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is the description of an image as an application of the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Unlike JPG or PNG, SVG enables rich interactivity — making it ideal for use cases like seat selection, room reservation, or region-based preference interfaces.

This tutorial walks through building a world map in iOS where users can tap individual countries to highlight and identify them.

Project Setup

Create a new Xcode project and install the Macaw library via CocoaPods — a powerful SVG rendering engine for iOS.

Rendering the SVG

Initialize an SVGScrollView containing an SVGMacawView to display SVG content within your view hierarchy.

Selecting Components

Parse the SVG’s XML structure to extract element IDs. This lets users tap specific regions — such as countries on a map — and trigger interactions based on the selected element.

Zoom & Pan

Implement pinch-to-zoom and pan gestures using UIScrollViewDelegate and UIGestureRecognizerDelegate to give users full control over navigating the SVG canvas.

Remote SVG Files

For server-hosted SVG files, parse the XML directly from the downloaded content rather than relying on local bundle resources.

Read the full article with code on Medium →