Maps SDK for Android Utility Library

Description

This open-source library contains utilities that are useful for a wide range of applications using the Google Maps SDK for Android.

• Marker animation - animates a marker from one position to another
• Marker clustering — handles the display of a large number of points
• Marker icons — display text on your Markers
• Heatmaps — display a large number of points as a heat map
• Import KML — displays KML data on the map
• Import GeoJSON — displays and styles GeoJSON data on the map
• Polyline encoding and decoding — compact encoding for paths, interoperability with Maps API web services
• Spherical geometry — for example: computeDistance, computeHeading, computeArea
• Street View metadata — checks if a Street View panorama exists at a given location

You can also find Kotlin extensions for this library in Maps Android KTX.

Requirements

• Android API level 21+

• An API key

Installation

dependencies {
    // Utilities for Maps SDK for Android (requires Google Play Services)
    // You do not need to add a separate dependency for the Maps SDK for Android
    // since this library builds in the compatible version of the Maps SDK.
    implementation 'com.google.maps.android:android-maps-utils:3.9.0'

    // Optionally add the Kotlin Extensions (KTX) for full Kotlin language support
    // See latest version at https://github.com/googlemaps/android-maps-ktx
    // implementation 'com.google.maps.android:maps-utils-ktx:<latest-version>'
}

Demo App

This repository includes a sample app that illustrates the use of this library.

To run the demo app, you'll have to:

1. Get a Maps API key
2. Add a file local.properties in the root project (this file should NOT be under version control to protect your API key)
3. Add a single line to local.properties that looks like MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY, where YOUR_API_KEY is the API key you obtained in the first step
4. Build and run the debug variant for the Maps SDK for Android version

Documentation

See the reference documentation for a full list of classes and their methods.

Usage

Full guides for using the utilities are published in Google Maps Platform documentation.

Marker utilities

Marker utilities

• Marker animation source, sample code
• Marker clustering source, guide
• Advanced Markers clustering source, sample code
• Marker icons source, sample code

Data visualization utilities

Data visualization utilities

• Display heat maps source, guide
• Import GeoJSON source, guide
• Import KML source, guide

Polyline and spherical geometry utilities

Additional utilities

• Polyline encoding and decoding source, encoding sample, decoding sample
• Spherical geometry source, compute distance sample

Street View metadata utility

Street View metadata utility

The StreetViewUtil class provides functionality to check whether a location is supported in StreetView. You can avoid errors when adding a Street View panorama to an Android app by calling this metadata utility and only adding a Street View panorama if the response is OK.

StreetViewUtils.fetchStreetViewData(LatLng(8.1425918, 11.5386121), BuildConfig.MAPS_API_KEY,Source.DEFAULT)

fetchStreetViewData will return NOT_FOUND, OK, ZERO_RESULTS or REQUEST_DENIED, depending on the response.

By default, the Source is set to Source.DEFAULT, but you can also specify Source.OUTDOOR to request outdoor Street View panoramas.

Migration Guide from v0.x to 1.0

Migrating from v0.x to 1.0

Improvements made in version 1.0.0 of the library to support multiple layers on the map caused breaking changes to versions prior to it. These changes also modify behaviors that are documented in the Maps SDK for Android Maps documentation site. This section outlines all those changes and how you can migrate to use this library since version 1.0.0.

Adding Click Events

Click events originate in the layer-specific object that added the marker/ground overlay/polyline/polygon. In each layer, the click handlers are passed to the marker, ground overlay, polyline, or polygon Collection object.

// Clustering
ClusterManager<ClusterItem> clusterManager = // Initialize ClusterManager - if you're using multiple maps features, use the constructor that passes in Manager objects (see next section)
clusterManager.setOnClusterItemClickListener(item -> {
    // Listen for clicks on a cluster item here
    return false;
});
clusterManager.setOnClusterClickListener(item -> {
    // Listen for clicks on a cluster here
    return false;
});

// GeoJson
GeoJsonLayer geoJsonLayer = // Initialize GeoJsonLayer - if you're using multiple maps features, use the constructor that passes in Manager objects (see next section)
geoJsonLayer.setOnFeatureClickListener(feature -> {
    // Listen for clicks on GeoJson features here
});

// KML
KmlLayer kmlLayer = // Initialize KmlLayer - if you're using multiple maps features, use the constructor that passes in Manager objects (see next section)
kmlLayer.setOnFeatureClickListener(feature -> {
    // Listen for clicks on KML features here
});

Using Manager Objects

If you use one of Manager objects in the package com.google.maps.android (e.g. GroundOverlayManager, MarkerManager, etc.), say from adding a KML layer, GeoJson layer, or Clustering, you will have to rely on the Collection specific to add an object to the map rather than adding that object directly to GoogleMap. This is because each Manager sets itself as a click listener so that it can manage click events coming from multiple layers.

For example, if you have additional GroundOverlay objects:

New

GroundOverlayManager groundOverlayManager = // Initialize

// Create a new collection first
GroundOverlayManager.Collection groundOverlayCollection = groundOverlayManager.newCollection();

// Add a new ground overlay
GroundOverlayOptions options = // ...
groundOverlayCollection.addGroundOverlay(options);

Old

GroundOverlayOptions options = // ...
googleMap.addGroundOverlay(options);

This same pattern applies for Marker, Circle, Polyline, and Polygon.

Adding a Custom Info Window

If you use MarkerManager, adding an InfoWindowAdapter and/or an OnInfoWindowClickListener should be done on the MarkerManager.Collection object.

New

CustomInfoWindowAdapter adapter = // ...
OnInfoWindowClickListener listener = // ...

// Create a new Collection from a MarkerManager
MarkerManager markerManager = // ...
MarkerManager.Collection collection = markerManager.newCollection();

// Set InfoWindowAdapter and OnInfoWindowClickListener
collection.setInfoWindowAdapter(adapter);
collection.setOnInfoWindowClickListener(listener);

// Alternatively, if you are using clustering
ClusterManager<ClusterItem> clusterManager = // ...
MarkerManager.Collection markerCollection = clusterManager.getMarkerCollection();
markerCollection.setInfoWindowAdapter(adapter);
markerCollection.setOnInfoWindowClickListener(listener);

Old

CustomInfoWindowAdapter adapter = // ...
OnInfoWindowClickListener listener = // ...
googleMap.setInfoWindowAdapter(adapter);
googleMap.setOnInfoWindowClickListener(listener);

Adding a Marker Drag Listener

If you use MarkerManager, adding an OnMarkerDragListener should be done on the MarkerManager.Collection object.

New

// Create a new Collection from a MarkerManager
MarkerManager markerManager = // ...
MarkerManager.Collection collection = markerManager.newCollection();

// Add markers to collection
MarkerOptions markerOptions = // ...
collection.addMarker(markerOptions);
// ...

// Set OnMarkerDragListener
GoogleMap.OnMarkerDragListener listener = // ...
collection.setOnMarkerDragListener(listener);

// Alternatively, if you are using clustering
ClusterManager<ClusterItem> clusterManager = // ...
MarkerManager.Collection markerCollection = clusterManager.getMarkerCollection();
markerCollection.setOnMarkerDragListener(listener);

Old

// Add markers
MarkerOptions markerOptions = // ...
googleMap.addMarker(makerOptions);

// Add listener
GoogleMap.OnMarkerDragListener listener = // ...
googleMap.setOnMarkerDragListener(listener);

Clustering

A bug was fixed in v1 to properly clear and re-add markers via the ClusterManager.

For example, this didn't work pre-v1, but works for v1 and later:

clusterManager.clearItems();
clusterManager.addItems(items);
clusterManager.cluster();

If you're using custom clustering (i.e, if you're extending DefaultClusterRenderer), you must override two additional methods in v1:

• onClusterItemUpdated() - should be the same* as your onBeforeClusterItemRendered() method
• onClusterUpdated() - should be the same* as your onBeforeClusterRendered() method

*Note that these methods can't be identical, as you need to use a Marker instead of MarkerOptions

See the CustomMarkerClusteringDemoActivity in the demo app for a complete example.

New

    private class PersonRenderer extends DefaultClusterRenderer<Person> {
        ...
        @Override
        protected void onBeforeClusterItemRendered(Person person, MarkerOptions markerOptions) {
            // Draw a single person - show their profile photo and set the info window to show their name
            markerOptions
                    .icon(getItemIcon(person))
                    .title(person.name);
        }

        /**
         * New in v1
         */
        @Override
        protected void onClusterItemUpdated(Person person, Marker marker) {
            // Same implementation as onBeforeClusterItemRendered() (to update cached markers)
            marker.setIcon(getItemIcon(person));
            marker.setTitle(person.name);
        }

        @Override
        protected void onBeforeClusterRendered(Cluster<Person> cluster, MarkerOptions markerOptions) {
            // Draw multiple people.
            // Note: this method runs on the UI thread. Don't spend too much time in here (like in this example).
            markerOptions.icon(getClusterIcon(cluster));
        }

        /**
         * New in v1
         */
        @Override
        protected void onClusterUpdated(Cluster<Person> cluster, Marker marker) {
            // Same implementation as onBeforeClusterRendered() (to update cached markers)
            marker.setIcon(getClusterIcon(cluster));
        }
        ...
    }

Old

    private class PersonRenderer extends DefaultClusterRenderer<Person> {
        ...
        @Override
        protected void onBeforeClusterItemRendered(Person person, MarkerOptions markerOptions) {
            // Draw a single person - show their profile photo and set the info window to show their name
            markerOptions
                    .icon(getItemIcon(person))
                    .title(person.name);
        }

        @Override
        protected void onBeforeClusterRendered(Cluster<Person> cluster, MarkerOptions markerOptions) {
            // Draw multiple people.
            // Note: this method runs on the UI thread. Don't spend too much time in here (like in this example).
            markerOptions.icon(getClusterIcon(cluster));
        }
        ...
    }

Contributing

Contributions are welcome and encouraged! See the contributing guide for more info.

Support

This library is offered via an open source license. It is not governed by the Google Maps Platform Technical Support Services Guidelines, the SLA, or the Deprecation Policy (however, any Google Maps Platform services used by the library remain subject to the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service).

This library adheres to semantic versioning to indicate when backwards-incompatible changes are introduced.

If you find a bug, or have a feature request, please file an issue on GitHub.

If you would like to get answers to technical questions from other Google Maps Platform developers, ask through one of our developer community channels including the Google Maps Platform Discord server.