How do I drop spots on Google Map in an Android app?

I'm developing an Android application where I want to pin out certain spots/addresse开发者_运维问答s on a google map. I have managed to add point to a mapView using OverlayItem and a Drawable. That works great.

But I have installed an application where the pins/spots are added asynchronously, and it looks like they are dropped from the top of the screen on to the map. Looks really nice.

I think I can manage to code the async functionality using threads, but I have no idea how to implement the "falling" feature... Does anyone have a clue??

That would seem difficult, unless the map were stationary.

If the map won't be panning/zooming, you could do the "falling" via a TranslateAnimation, applied to an ImageView that floats above the map (e.g., later child in the RelativeLayout that holds the MapView). When the animation completes, you'd make the ImageView be View.GONE, and you'd add the actual marker to the ItemizedOverlay.

Here is a sample project showing how to do drag-and-drop of an OverlayItem using a similar core concept.