Google Data » Maps Devel

UNIT9 brings the world of Kingsman: The Secret Service to life with Google Maps APIs

Maps Devel — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:14:00 +0000

Post Text Posted by Dan Edgar, Developer at UNIT9

Editor’s note: Since the launch of Google Maps ten years ago, maps have come a long way. To celebrate a decade of map innovation, we’re highlighting unique applications built by our developer community. Hear from Dan Edgar, Developer at digital creative production company UNIT9, and see how they’re using the Google Maps APIs to create an interactive experience for the new movie Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Many people dream about being an undercover agent on a top secret mission. With the help of the Google Maps APIs, our team at Unit 9 is making that possible for the fans of the new movie Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Become a Kingsman is an immersive online and mobile experience, which challenges players to prove they’re knight-worthy by completing a series of interactive games. Created as a way to promote the movie, players can use their smartphones as multi-purpose spy gadgets and interact directly with the Kingsman characters. In the second mission, which uses the Street View Image API, the phone serves as a compass for navigating King’s Cross. As they explore their surroundings, players locate potential targets and interrogate them for crucial intelligence.

To blend modern-day London with the film’s universe, we used the Google Maps Javascript API and Street View Image API. We used real images of the King’s Cross railway station from the Street View API, then inserted Kingsman characters for players to discover and interrogate. We created custom Street View panoramas using high-resolution base images of the characters and added these retouched images to views of King’s Cross. To create a full tile set for each panorama, we wrote an export script in Photoshop, allowing players to zoom into the game at different levels without sacrificing quality.

Our team built a custom user interface, enabling us to design navigation arrows and other visual elements that fit with the Kingsman experience. To achieve this interface, we positioned it over the Street View object using the panorama ID of adjacent Street View imagery and found the IDs by setting a small radius value in google.maps.StreetViewService.getPanoramaByLocation and including the ID in google.maps.StreetViewPanorama.setPano. We then grouped our markers into sets for each stage of the mission — the introduction, search and escape — and positioned each set using data loaded from an external JSON. Finally, we used google.maps.marker.setVisible to hide markers outside the current stage.

Working with Google Maps APIs opened up new creative possibilities for us. By adding custom elements to Street View, we were able to create a new world — one that people could easily jump into and explore.

Google Maps welcomes the new Roads API

Maps Devel — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:13:00 +0000

Mobile adoption continues to grow and location-aware apps are becoming a big part of everyday life. On your device you can find a fitness app measuring how far you’ve walked, transit apps notifying you when the next bus arrives, and driving apps to help you find the best route home. The Google Maps APIs have been a key part of apps that are changing the way you exercise, commute and live.

Today we’re introducing a new API that makes location-based mobile development easier. The Google Maps Roads API provides a snap-to-road feature that lets you create useful visualizations from raw GPS locations, turning jittery GPS tracks into smooth paths that follow the road around curves and corners. The Google Maps Roads API also provides speed limit data for paid Google Maps API developers.

To see for yourself how the Roads API improves routing and displays speed data, check out our demo.

To demonstrate the benefits that Roads API can provide for your app, we've partnered with Dash, a connected driving app. Dash provides real-time diagnostics for automobiles so that drivers can save time and money by driving better and more intelligently. One key challenge for Dash was not being able to collect enough information points to draw visually stunning lines on the map without creating a drain on the device’s battery. With the Roads API, Dash can sample less frequently and still get accurate and beautiful visualizations of routes, even on roads that are curvy or otherwise hard to visualize with less than optimal sample rates.

Let’s take a look at how the Roads API snap-to-road feature is improving the Dash app. You can see in the first app screenshot below, without the Roads API, the route doesn’t make sense unless you’re jumping a few medians, driving through the woods, and somehow not getting pulled over for ignoring basic traffic rules. The second app screenshot shows the same route after the Roads API had been implemented into Dash and is a much smoother, more accurate route.

The Dash team says they are “pretty psyched” the Roads API has optimized their visualizations and we’re pretty psyched they are happy with the result. To learn more about the Roads API, please take a look at our DevByte video, check out the documentation or download the updated client libraries to get started.

Snap-to-road is available for free with a limit of 2500 queries per day. For the Google Maps API paid developer, the Roads API also gives you access to speed limit data from all over the world. Simply contact your account manager to get the Roads API enabled for your account. If you do not know who your account manager is, you can find it out by filing a non-technical case in the support portal. To get in touch with us to become a Google Maps paid customer, please reach out here.

Posted by Elena Kelareva, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Keeping your maps in check: Introducing the Google Maps API checker

Maps Devel — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:31:00 +0000

Posted by Dave Overstrom, Google Maps Program Manager

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is designed to answer frequently asked questions about using Google Maps APIs. For tips on how to deploy Google’s mapping tools, read more from Dave Overstrom, Program Manager at Google.

Google Maps APIs enable you to create familiar and engaging location-based applications. Over the past decade, we’ve worked hard to make Google Maps simple and easy to use for consumers, and we think the same experience should hold true when integrating our mapping APIs. That’s why we’re excited to announce the Google Maps API checker, a new Chrome extension designed to help deploy our licensed Google Maps APIs.

The checker allows you to determine if your website is properly implementing Google’s mapping APIs, such as the Google Maps Javascript, Static Maps and Street View Image APIs. Ideal for partners and developers, the tool shows information about common API watchpoints and pitfalls, including issues related to your client ID, digitally signing a static maps request, and optimizing your quota. No longer will you need to sift through code or the Javascript console to identify implementation problems. You can see technical issues immediately by clicking an icon in the browser's address bar.

If you’re a Google Maps customer, we hope this new extension will make implementing Google Maps APIs an even better experience. Enjoy!

iNaturalist.org brings conservation to the masses using Google Maps APIs

Maps Devel — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 15:31:00 +0000

Posted by Scott Loarie, Co-Director, iNaturalist.org, California Academy of Sciences

Editor’s note: Since the launch of Google Maps ten years ago, maps have come a long way. To celebrate a decade of map innovation, we’re highlighting unique maps built by our developer community. Hear from Scott Loarie at iNaturalist.org and see how they’re using Google Maps APIs to create a community-driven conservation map.

At the California Academy of Sciences, we’re using maps to help people discover plant and animal life from around the world on iNaturalist.org. To help people share and learn about nature across the globe, we’re bringing those experiences directly to our visitors using Google Maps APIs.

Our virtual conservation effort is powered primarily by the Google Maps JavaScript API and Google Maps Android API, which render maps for our website and Android mobile app. And to make our maps even more engaging and easy to use, we rely on other APIs, too. We use the Static Maps API to display map locations without having to display locations in a lightweight manner, and the Street View Image API to show 360-degree views of the Galapagos Islands. The Geocoding API enables us to turn place names into coordinates, letting people ‘add an observation’ to our map and participate in our site.

Using the Google Maps APIs, we can create multi-layered maps that are both educational for consumers and useful for researchers. Our app automatically geotags photos as they’re uploaded and displays them based on GPS coordinates. Additionally, we pull data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) about locations of species and display them in KML format using polygons on the Google Map. Seeing photos and data on the map lets researchers compare observations from multiple sources and determine numbers and types of species in a particular area.

Since we launched our maps, 70,000 participants have contributed more than a million observations and documented more than 50,000 species. We get a new observation every 15 seconds. The more information we gather, the better we can raise awareness for conservation and help combat extinction.

Transit Directions Improvements

Maps Devel — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 23:34:00 +0000

Today we released a set of improvements to transit directions in the Google Maps APIs. If you use transit directions in your app, you can now show fare info and give your users the same mode and routing options as the Google Maps Android app.

Specifically, the changes are as follows:

Transit is now available in the Google Maps Distance Matrix API and the Distance Matrix service in the Google Maps JavaScript API v3. Previously it was only available in the Google Maps Directions API and the Directions service.
Transit directions will now return fare information where available, same as the Google Maps Android app. In the Distance Matrix API, this enables developers to find routes that minimize either the travel time or the fare.
Transit directions now accept transit options, same as the Google Maps Android app. Options include mode preferences (transit_mode=train|tram|subway|bus) as well as routing preferences (transit_routing_preference=less_walking or fewer_transfers).
Developers can now set departure_time=now in Directions API queries instead of specifying a timestamp. The departure_time parameter is now optional and will default to departure_time=now if not specified.

These changes are also available in the Directions service and Distance Matrix service in the Google Maps JavaScript API v3.

Posted by Elena Kelareva, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Save Time with Easy Maps API Integration from Java and Python

Maps Devel — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:42:00 +0000

The Google Maps API provides a rich set of web services that allow developers to integrate them into connected applications. We've been making developers lives easier by making these services available in the JavaScript Maps API as tested code that simplifies interfacing with mapping services for quite a while now.

Recognizing that developers use different languages for their applications, we've developed client libraries to make integration of Maps API services easier, and we're happy to announce availability of libraries for both Java and Python. The bottom line is fewer lines of code are needed to integrate the Maps APIs, and let's face it, less code means less work which means faster time to market!

The libraries support these Maps API services:

Here's an example of how you'd use the Geocoding API with the Java client library:

// Replace the API key below with a valid API key.
GeoApiContext context = new GeoApiContext().setApiKey("AIza...");
GeocodingResult[] results =  GeocodingApi.geocode(context,
    "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043").await();
System.out.println(results[0].formattedAddress);

By taking advantage of these client libraries, developers will save time integrating these services. Developing robust code that handle all the details of interfacing to these services can be left to our client libraries whilst the developer can concentrate on value added features in their applications.

Depending on which language you're using, some of the best features of the libraries include:

Simple interface
- enables you to get started quickly and easily
Authenticated requests
- handles the nitty-gritty of authentication keys and enterprise signing
Retry on failure
- transparently deals with intermittent connection to server errors
Rate limiting
- throttles the number of requests to the Maps API for quota management
Native objects
- the interfaces are in your host language so no bridging code needed
Asynchronous or synchronous
- you choose what style of interface to use, as we support both
Open source
- easy to check out, understand, and contribute to if you like

If you're a Java developer, head on over to our github repository to get the code and browse the examples. If you develop in Python you'll find the Python specific code and samples here.

We've built these libraries to save you time and make it even easier to put Maps API services into your next world-changing app, let us know if you like them!

Posted by Alex Danilo, Developer Advocate

Announcing deprecation of the Google Earth API

Maps Devel — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 20:16:00 +0000

Over six years ago we introduced the Google Earth API, enabling developers to build rich 3D mapping applications in the browser, using JavaScript. And over the years, developers have built quite a number of fascinating applications.

However, the Earth API is built on a technology called the NPAPI plugin framework, and recently, for security reasons, both Chrome and Firefox have announced they’re removing support for this framework. These security reasons, combined with dwindling cross-platform support (particularly on mobile devices), had made building applications that leverage the Earth API untenable for developers.

Therefore, after careful consideration, we have decided to retire the Google Earth API. Per our deprecation policy, the API will be supported until one year from today and will be turned off on December 12, 2015.

For the duration of the deprecation period, the set of supported browsers is as follows. Because of the recent Chrome and Firefox announcements, support on those browsers extends only to the latest browser version that supports NPAPI.

Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, 7, and 8)

Google Chrome 5.0-39.0 (32-bit)
Internet Explorer 7-9, and 10-11 with Compatibility View (32-bit) (Note that the Windows 8 browsing mode with Internet Explorer does not support plugins.)
Firefox 11.0-34.0

Apple Mac OS X 10.6 or later (any Intel Mac)

Google Chrome 5.0-39.0 (32-bit)
Safari 3.1+
Firefox 11.0-34

Google Earth has a proud legacy, which continues with the new Google Earth for Android, powered by a brand new renderer. 3D is in our blood, and while we can’t announce anything just now, we look forward to sharing more exciting product news in the future.

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Localization of Street Addresses in the Google Maps APIs

Maps Devel — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 23:09:00 +0000

The Google Maps APIs have been making maps universally accessible to developers and users for over 10 years. With over 50 supported languages, almost everyone can view the map in their own language.

But sometimes an address translated to your language isn’t the most useful result. Whether your map says London, Londres, Лондон or 伦敦, only the first of these will match local street signs or help you communicate the address to locals.

If you view geocoded addresses in locations with different local languages, today we launched a change that will make life easier for you. Street-level addresses returned by the Google Maps Geocoding API now favor the local language, while keeping the address understandable as much as possible for both a user who only reads the requested language as well as locals.

If the local language and user language both use the same alphabet, the Geocoding API will now return the local names for the streets and localities. For example, searching for an address in Brazil with user language set to English now returns “Avenida Paulista” rather than “Paulista Avenue”.

If the local language and user language use different alphabets, the Geocoding API will return the local name, transliterated into the Latin alphabet. In some cases, an English translation may be returned, for example if no transliteration is available. For example, searching for El Tahrir Square with user language set to Japanese now returns “El-Tahrir Square, Ismailia, Qasr an Nile, Cairo Governorate, エジプト” rather than “エジプトカイロ県 Qasr an Nile, タハリール広場” (the old result) or “ميدان التحرير، قصر النيل، محافظة القاهرة‬، مصر” (the local name). The Latin result is more likely to be readable by both a Japanese traveler and an Egyptian local, whereas the Japanese traveler is unlikely to be able to read the Arabic address, and Egyptian locals are unlikely to be able to read the Japanese characters.

Queries where the requested language is the same as the local language are unaffected. Note that the requested language can be specified either using the language= parameter, or the browser’s Accept-Language header. If neither of these is provided, the native language of the Google domain is used as a default (for example, English for maps.googleapis.com).

This change also applies to addresses returned by the Directions API and Distance Matrix API, as well as services in the Google Maps JavaScript API v3. The Places API is not included at this time.

To learn more about localization in the Google Maps APIs, see the Google Maps JavaScript API v3 documentation. To learn more about the Geocoding API, see the Geocoding API documentation.

Posted by Elena Kelareva, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Introducing Street View and Photo Spheres in the Maps Embed API

Maps Devel — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 21:20:00 +0000

Several months back we released a new Google Maps Embed API which enables developers to generate HTML snippets that embed Google Maps within their own website. At that time, the astute reader may have noticed that Street View and Photo Spheres were missing. Until now!

Today, we added the ability to easily embed the Street View and Photo Sphere images you find in Google Maps and we’re also enabling the same capabilities programmatically in the Google Maps Embed API. These embeds use the new imagery viewer technology that powers Street View in the new Google Maps.

Embedding a Street View or Photo Sphere works similarly to the Street View Service in Google Maps JavaScript API v3 - specify a lat/lng or panorama ID to pick your location, plus heading and pitch to determine direction of the scene and angle of the camera.

Lastly, since this feature is part of the Google Maps Embed API, embedded Street View panoramas are also free of usage limits. So go forth and embed!

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Google Play services 6.5

Maps Devel — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:36:00 +0000

Cross-posted from Google Developers Blog

Posted by Ian Lake, Developer Advocate

To offer more seamless integration of Google products within your app, we’re excited to start the rollout of the latest version of Google Play services.

Google Play services 6.5 includes new features in Google Maps, Google Drive and Google Wallet as well as the recently launched Google Fit API. We are also providing developers with more granular control over which Google Play services APIs your app depends on to help you maintain a lean app.

Google Maps

We’re making it easier to get directions to places from your app! The Google Maps Android API now offers a map toolbar to let users open Google Maps and immediately get directions and turn by turn navigation to the selected marker. This map toolbar will show by default when you compile against Google Play services 6.5.

In addition, there is also a new ‘lite mode’ map option, ideal for situations where you want to provide a number of smaller maps, or a map that is so small that meaningful interaction is impractical, such as a thumbnail in a list. A lite mode map is a bitmap image of a map at a specified location and zoom level.

In lite mode, markers and shapes are drawn client-side on top of the static image, so you still have full control over them. Lite mode supports all of the map types, the My Location layer, and a subset of the functionality of a fully-interactive map. Users can tap on the map to launch Google Maps when they need more details.

The Google Maps Android API also exposes a new getMapAsync(OnMapReadyCallback) method to MapFragment and MapView which will notify you exactly when the map is ready. This serves as a replacement for the now deprecated getMap() method.

We’re also exposing the Google Maps for Android app intents available to your apps including displaying the map, searching, starting turn by turn navigation, and opening Street View so you can build upon the familiar and powerful maps already available on the device.

Drive

You can now add both public and application private custom file properties to a Drive file which can be used to build very efficient search queries and allow apps to save information which is guaranteed to persist across editing by other apps.

We’ve also made it even easier to make syncing your files to Drive both user and battery friendly with the ability to control when files are uploaded by network type or charging status and cancel pending uploads.

Google Wallet

In addition to the existing ‘Buy with Google’ button available to quickly purchase goods & services using Google Wallet, this release adds a ‘Donate with Google’ button for providing the same ease of use in collecting donations.

Google Fit

The Google Fit SDK was recently officially released as part of Google Play services and can be used to super-charge your fitness apps with a simple API for working with sensors, recording activity data, and reading the user’s aggregated fitness data.

In this release, we’ve made it easier for developers to add activity segments (predefined time periods of running, walking, cycling, etc) when inserting sessions, making it easy to support pauses or multiple activity type workouts. We’ll also be adding additional samples to help kick-start your Google Fit integration.

Granular Dependency Management

As we’ve continued to add more APIs across the wide range of Google services, it can be hard to maintain a lean app, particularly if you're only using a portion of the available APIs. Now with Google Play services 6.5, you’ll be able to depend only on a minimal common library and the exact APIs your app needs. This makes it very lightweight to get started with Google Play services.

SDK Coming Soon!

We’ll be rolling out Google Play services 6.5 over the next few days, and we’ll update this blog post, publish the documentation, and make the SDK available once the rollout completes.

To learn more about Google Play services and the APIs available to you through it, visit the Google Play Services section on the Android Developer site.

A few updates to the Google Maps / Google Earth APIs Terms of Service

Maps Devel — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:08:00 +0000

Today we posted a few minor updates to the Google Maps / Google Earth APIs Terms of Service. These changes should impact very few developers and customers, but are designed to provide clarification for recently launched advertising-supported and connected APIs.

The changes are broadly as follows:

Advertising

Similar to the Adsense Terms and Conditions, if you use an API that serves ads, you grant Google the right to index your site for the purpose of better ad targeting.
A restriction on using Places API results to create or augment an advertising product.

Sign-in and cookies

A restriction on obscuring the Google sign-in button, similar to the existing restriction on obscuring the Google logo and copyright notice.
A clause that states certain APIs use cookies, and that developers using these APIs may be required by law to disclose such on their own site.

Other changes

Clarifications on what sorts of use cases constitute asset tracking.
Removal of references to specific data providers.

We continue to believe in providing a set of tools that help you meet your maps and location related goals, and these updates are designed to make the terms of our offering more clear and sustainable. We look forward to seeing what you build next!

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

No map is an island: Introducing a connected JavaScript Maps API experience

Maps Devel — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:39:00 +0000

Our digital lives are increasingly connected. We research on our laptops, look up directions on our phones and even navigate with our watches. And by creating maps unique to each user and offering features such as saved places, Google Maps has been making it easier to continue these tasks as we move from device to device.

However, although maps embedded from Google Maps are now built uniquely for every Google user, most of the now two million active sites and apps using the Maps APIs are still islands. When I look for a place to eat on Zagat, I can’t see how far away it is from work. When I look at a travel map in the New York Times, I can’t save those places in order to navigate to them later.

Today we’re taking a step towards connecting these two million sites and apps by introducing a signed-in JavaScript Maps API experience and a feature called attributed save. To help illustrate, we’ve partnered with the New York Times to bring this experience to their 36 hours travel column.

A connected JavaScript Maps API

When you add &signed_in=true to the Google Maps JavaScript API source url, your end users will have the option to sign into the map with their Google account. When they do so, your users will receive a map built for them, in the context of your app. Their saved places — including home and work addresses (if set by the end user) as well as other relevant places — will appear automatically on their map, providing a layer of context that anchors your content and makes it stand out even more.

Attributed save

Once users are signed into the Google Maps in your app, we can together create an integrated experience between your map content and Google Maps. With attributed save, signed-in users can save places from your app to be accessed later, with attribution and linkbacks, on Google Maps for the web, Android and iOS.

What’s more, you can also enable deep links into your mobile applications. For instance, users can save a place from your desktop app (such as Zagat.com), open up the place on Google Maps on their Android device, and deep link directly into your Android app.

Enabling attributed save is easy — just specify your app name, a link and a place search string or place ID when creating a marker and info window. Or use our SaveWidget to enable attributed save in your own custom info window.

In addition, we’re also launching attributed save across all embedded maps today. Attribution and linkback parameter will be inferred automatically from the domain and referrer of the host site, so if you’re using our embedded maps, you don’t need to do anything! If you’re using the Google Maps Embed API, you may customize the source and link back parameters yourself.

One final point: we’ve stated in the past that the JavaScript Maps API is cookieless if loaded from maps.googleapis.com. As of today, to enable the signed in maps experience on sites across the web, the signed-in version of the JavaScript Maps API now does rely on cookies to detect the end user’s signed-in state. Please review our documentation for further details.

That’s all for now. Go try it out. And remember, no map is an island, entire of itself...

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Going where you are: Google Maps API Utility Libraries moving to Github

Maps Devel — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 16:55:00 +0000

For years, we’ve hosted the open source utility libraries for the Google Maps JavaScript API on Google Code. These libraries provide additional functionality that developers can add to their maps applications. They also show best practices for techniques like marker clustering:

Putting labels on a map:

And much more.

Over the last few years the developer community has increasingly used GitHub for hosting code. In order to make these libraries more useful to developers, we will be moving the utility libraries maintained by Google to our Google Maps GitHub repository, where they will join the Android utility library, the iOS utility library, our new Java Client for Google Maps Services and various code samples we’ve published. There they will be easy to fork and use in your own projects, as well as make pull requests to add new features and fix problems.

We have frozen the existing project on code.google.com. Future updates will be made only in the GitHub repositories. We encourage developers to get their code from the GitHub repositories instead.

For a complete list of the utility libraries on GitHub, check out our directory.

Posted by Mano Marks, Google Maps API Team

Mixing maps and WebGL to visualize huge geo datasets

Maps Devel — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:49:00 +0000

Matt Cooper is a Computer Science student at the University of Sheffield. He spent the past summer interning in the Google Maps for Work team in London. He worked on ways to help our partners implement our Maps API and display large amounts of data.

Google Maps is great for displaying data. Whether you’re using the Google Maps Javascript API’s Data Layer, Google Maps Engine, or My Maps, you’re able to display a pretty impressive amount of data on top of Google Maps. But don’t you always wish you could display a bit more?

I’ve been working on a way to use new web technology to make some really great, scalable and awesome tools to use with Maps. There’s one new technology that’s pretty good at displaying graphics on the web - WebGL. Using WebGL you can access a user’s graphics card and perform some speedy and big rendering operations. There are some open source libraries that are currently working to bring WebGL and maps closer together and I’ve made something that helps to bring WebGL and Google Maps closer together too.

This map illustrates how WebGL Layer can display a high density of data on a single map by showing the Postcode records of London (~120,000 points).

Currently you can use CanvasLayer.js that Brendan Kenny developed to integrate WebGL and Maps. He showed that off last year at Google I/O but even with CanvasLayer, there’s a bit more work to do to help developers use WebGL with Maps.

That’s where WebGL Layer comes in. It’s an experimental extension I wrote for Google Maps that gives you simple and extensible access to WebGL on a map and it’s really easy to get started. Simply include WebGL Layer and its dependencies on your web page, make a Google Map like you normally would, and then you can add your WebGL Layer.

Just like you’d expect from a Maps Layer you can now load in data. WebGL Layer uses GeoJSON as a data source, but you can extend this as you wish. You can use GeoJSON from your application or GeoJSON from an external source.

There’s also support for Vector Tile Servers. As WebGL Layer is designed to display huge amounts of data you’ll often run into problems with bandwidth and file size. A great way to get around this is to use Google’s Compute Engine to host your own tile server. One of the builds I liked is a PostGIS database with TileStache in front providing a UWSGI HTTP server for GeoJSON tiles. Once you have your tile server, adding it in is easy.

After you’ve added all your data in, you’re going to want to do something with it, right? WebGL Layer uses an onAddFeature callback that lets you grab a feature after it enters the layer and do some cool things with it.
Let’s say you want to build a robust frontend GIS (Geographic information system). You can integrate with JavaScript Topology Suite to let you do some spatial indexing and querying on your points. You can also use powerful libraries like Crossfilter to do speedy filtering and queries on your data or you can make your own data structure. Once you’ve got your data back you can use the index properties attached to the feature to change some of the internal features.

There are a lot more more examples on the Github repo. Feel free to play around and tinker with WebGL Layer to make your own awesome new maps projects. And as always, we’d love to hear about the new and exciting maps apps you’re building.

Maps Engine API now at v1: Make Maps in Google’s Cloud

Maps Devel — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:03:00 +0000

Maps are a wonderful tools for visualizing data. With Google Maps Engine, you can create, share, and host maps like these in the Cloud:

National Geographic Society’s
Ocean Atlas: Indian Ocean Floor

David Rumsey Map Collection’s
Japan 1891

City of Edmonton's
Traffic Incidents Bubbles

Last year we started rolling out features to enable full data management in Maps Engine via a REST API and a set of native client libraries (including Java, Python and Node.js), making the API easy to use from any application or platform (Android, web, iOS, and server environments). The API can be used to automate data updates, build custom apps on the Maps Engine platform, or use 3rd party tools to connect existing software with your data stored in Maps Engine.

Today we’re launching the Maps Engine API v1.0: you can now do any CRUD operation on Maps Engine data via the API. The API is fully covered by our service level agreement (SLA) and deprecation policy. There is also a great set of new tutorials and documentation to help get you started.

Take advantage of Maps Engine and its API to:

Bring Maps Engine to your own application by connecting with Maps Engine via the API. Great examples of this are Safe Software’s FME tool which allows you to load data from Socrata to Maps Engine and the Open Data Kit Collect app which helps folks collecting data out in the field update straight into Maps Engine,

Make your maps discoverable to the world by joining the Maps Engine public data program and publishing your maps to the public Google Maps Gallery, or
Host and craft your own maps in Maps Engine by signing up for a free account or becoming a Maps for Work customer (for higher data limits and query capacity)

Keen to get started using the API? Then check out the video below for a crash course in Maps Engine and the API and these tutorials.

Posted by Jen Kovnats, Product Manager

Turning down the Flash Maps API

Maps Devel — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:54:00 +0000

Alert!

On September 2nd of this year the three year deprecation period for the Google Maps API for Flash will come to a close and the API will be turned off on that date. We encourage developers of existing applications to migrate to JavaScript Maps API v3 as soon as possible.

Over the past 3 years we’ve added numerous additional features to v3, such as elevation, cycling and transit directions, symbols, and support for GeoJSON, making it our most powerful and well used Maps API ever. Developers looking to migrate to the JavaScript Maps API v3 can find answers to any questions they have on StackOverflow. Our support page has the right StackOverflow tags to peruse.

Alternatively, if you are a Maps API for Business customer you can get help through the Enterprise support portal (check the Resources tab).

Posted by Mano Marks, Developer Relations Team

Putting your Professional Group on the Map

Maps Devel — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:01:00 +0000

People love to know what’s happening in their area of expertise around the world. What better way to show it, than on a map? Tech Comm on a Map puts technical communication tidbits onto an interactive map, together with the data and functionality provided by Google Maps.

I’m a technical writer at Google. In this post I share a project that uses the new Data layer in the Google Maps JavaScript API, with a Google Sheets spreadsheet as a data source and a location search provided by Google Places Autocomplete.

Although this project is about technical communication, you can easily adapt it for other special interest groups too. The code is on GitHub.

The map in action

Visit Tech Comm on a Map to see it in action. Here’s a screenshot:

The colored circles indicate the location of technical communication conferences, societies, groups and businesses. The “other” category is for bits and pieces that don’t fit into any of the categories. You can select and deselect the checkboxes at top left of the map, to choose the item types you’re interested in.

When you hover over a circle, an info window pops up with information about the item you chose. If you click a circle, the map zooms in so that you can see where the event or group is located. You can also search for a specific location, to see what’s happening there.

Let’s look at the building blocks of Tech Comm on a Map.

Getting hold of a map

I'm using the Google Maps JavaScript API to display and interact with a map.

Where does the data come from?

When planning this project, I decided I want technical communicators to be able to add data (conferences, groups, businesses, and so on) themselves, and the data must be immediately visible on the map.

I needed a data entry and storage tool that provided a data entry UI, user management and authorization, so that I didn’t have to code all that myself. In addition, contributors shouldn’t need to learn a new UI or a new syntax in order to add data items to the map. I needed a data entry mechanism that is familiar to most people – a spreadsheet, for example.

In an episode of Google Maps Developer Shortcuts, Paul Saxman shows how to pull data from Google Drive into your JavaScript app. That’s just what I needed. Here’s how it works.

The data for Tech Comm on a Map is in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. It looks something like this:

Also in the spreadsheet is a Google Apps Script that outputs the data in JSON format:

var SPREADSHEET_ID = '[MY-SPREADSHEET-ID]';

var SHEET_NAME = 'Data';

function doGet(request) {

var callback = request.parameters.jsonp;

var range = SpreadsheetApp

.openById(SPREADSHEET_ID)

.getSheetByName(SHEET_NAME)

.getDataRange();

var json = callback + '(' +

Utilities.jsonStringify(range.getValues()) + ')';

return ContentService

.createTextOutput(json)

.setMimeType(ContentService.MimeType.JAVASCRIPT);

}

Follow these steps to add the script to the spreadsheet and make it available as a web service:

In Google Sheets, choose ‘Tools’ > ‘Script Editor’.

Add a new script as a blank project.

Insert the above code.

Choose ‘File’ > ‘Manage Versions’, and name the latest version of the script.

Choose ‘Publish’ > ‘Deploy as web app’. Make it executable by ‘anyone, even anonymous’. Note: This means anyone will be able to access the data in this spreadsheet via a script.

Choose ‘Deploy’.

Copy the URL of the web service. You’ll need to paste it into the JavaScript on your web page.

In your JavaScript, define a variable to contain the URL of the Google Apps script, and add the JSONP callback parameter:

var DATA_SERVICE_URL =

"https://script.google.com/macros/s/[MY-SCRIPT-ID]/exec?jsonp=?";

Then use jQuery’s Ajax function to fetch and process the rows of data from the spreadsheet. Each row contains the information for an item: type, item name, description, website, start and end dates, address, latitude and longitude.

$.ajax({

url: DATA_SERVICE_URL,

dataType: 'jsonp',

success: function(data) {

// Get the spreadsheet rows one by one.

// First row contains headings, so start the index at 1 not 0.

for (var i = 1; i < data.length; i++) {

map.data.add({

properties: {

type: data[i][0],

name: data[i][1],

description: data[i][2],

website: data[i][3],

startdate: data[i][4],

enddate: data[i][5],

address: data[i][6]

geometry: {

lat: data[i][7],

lng: data[i][8]

}

});

}

});

The new Data layer in the Maps JavaScript API

Now that I could pull the tech comm information from the spreadsheet into my web page, I needed a way to visualize the data on the map. The new Data layer in the Google Maps JavaScript API is designed for just such a purpose. Notice the method map.data.add() in the above code. This is an instruction to add a feature in the Data layer.

With the basic JavaScript API you can add separate objects to the map, such as a polygon, a marker, or a line. But by using the Data layer, you can define a collection of objects and then manipulate and style them as a group. (The Data layer is also designed to play well with GeoJSON, but we don’t need that aspect of it for this project.)

The tech comm data is represented as a series of features in the Data layer, each with a set of properties (type, name, address, etc) and a geometry (latitude and longitude).

Style the markers on the map, with different colors depending on the data type (conference, society, group, etc):

function techCommItemStyle(feature) {

var type = feature.getProperty('type');

var style = {

icon: {

path: google.maps.SymbolPath.CIRCLE,

fillOpacity: 1,

strokeWeight: 3,

scale: 10

// Show the markers for this type if

// the user has selected the corresponding checkbox.

visible: (checkboxes[type] != false)

};

// Set the marker colour based on type of tech comm item.
switch (type) {
   case 'Conference':
     style.icon.fillColor = '#c077f1';
     style.icon.strokeColor = '#a347e1';
     break;
   case 'Society':
     style.icon.fillColor = '#f6bb2e';
     style.icon.strokeColor = '#ee7b0c';
     break;

. . . SNIPPED SOME DATA TYPES FOR BREVITY

   default:
     style.icon.fillColor = '#017cff';
     style.icon.strokeColor = '#0000ff';
}
return style;
}

Set listeners to respond when the user hovers over or clicks a marker. For example, this listener opens an info window on hover, showing information about the relevant data item:
map.data.addListener('mouseover', function(event) {
   createInfoWindow(event.feature);
   infoWindow.open(map);
});
The Place Autocomplete search

The last piece of the puzzle is to let users search for a specific location on the map, so that they can zoom in and see the events in that location. The location search box on the map is provided by the Place Autocomplete widget from the Google Places API.
What’s next?

Tech Comm on a Map is an ongoing project. We technical communicators are using a map to document our presence in the world!

Would you like to contribute? The code is on GitHub.

Posted by Sarah Maddox, Google Developer Relations team.

Recap of Google Maps at I/O 14

Maps Devel — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Maps had a great I/O 2014, with four sessions and three I/O Bytes. Not to mention all the partners in the sandbox who were using the Maps API!

For those who want to relive Google I/O, or catch up on sessions you missed, we’ve created a playlist of Maps videos:

Enjoy watching, and happy mapping!

Posted by Mano Marks, Developer Relations Team

Maps at I/O’14

Maps Devel — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:15:00 +0000

Google I/O starts tomorrow, and as always, Google Maps is a big part of the show. The team has been working hard to give developers a great experience. We’re looking forward to seeing you there, or your comments online on our videos. There will be lots of maps engineers, developer relations team members, product managers and more around I/O. So if you’re there, find us, say hi and show us your apps!

We’ve already released one video (embedded below). Watch the I/O Bytes 2014 channel for more to come. Also in this post is a tantalizing glimpse into four of our I/O sessions.

Video

Map Up your Apps!

with Megan Boundey

Interested in adding Google Maps to your mobile apps but needing inspiration? Did you know that you can now add Street View to your apps too? See how incorporating maps into your app can delight your users! We'll show you some exciting uses of the Google Maps Mobile APIs and describe the functionality available in the APIs as we go.

Sessions

The first three sessions are available by livestream, and all sessions will be available on YouTube in the Google Developers Channel after I/O.

Views from Everywhere: Bringing developers the world's largest geo photo library

with Evan Rapoport, Luc Vincent

Google Maps is creating the world's most comprehensive geolocated photo library through Street View. We're also empowering anyone to contribute photos and 360-degree panoramas to Google Maps via products like Trekker, Business View, Views, and Photo Sphere. In this talk, we'll show how developers can integrate billions of panoramas into their projects. We'll also show how anyone can quickly publish imagery of places they care about, then easily access them via our APIs and viewers. This session is relevant to developers creating experiences that include location and imagery.

Maps for good: Saving trees and saving lives with petapixel-scale computing

with Rebecca Moore

Satellites have been systematically collecting imagery of our changing planet for more than 40 years, yet until recently this treasure trove of “big data” has not been online and available for high-performance data mining. This session will cover the new Google Earth Engine technology and experimental API for massively-parallel geospatial analysis on daily-updating global datasets such as Landsat satellite imagery. Scientists and other domain experts are developing new EE-powered applications which map, measure and monitor our changing planet in unprecedented detail, for the benefit of people and the environment. Applications include tracking and reducing global deforestation; mapping and mitigating the risks of earthquakes and extreme weather events such as floods and drought; and even creating new kinds of geo-visualizations such as the 2014 Webby award-winning “Timelapse” - a zoomable, browsable HTML5 video animation of the entire Earth from 1984-2012, built from nearly a petabyte of Landsat data. These early results merely hint at what’s now possible.

Redesigning Google Maps

with Jonah Jones, Annette Leong

How do you redesign a product used by a billion people? The Google Maps team recently launched their biggest redesign since the product was introduced 8 years ago. The lead designers will take you through the journey, illustrating three lessons learned that can apply to any design and product development process.

How 20% engineers built Santa Tracker

with Chris Broadfoot and Ankur Kotwal

Built on Google’s developer platform, Santa Tracker lets millions of children and adults track Santa in 34 languages as he delivers presents across the world. The project’s technical leads go behind the scenes to provide insight into the challenges of building a cohesive Google developer platform experience across mobile/desktop web, Android, Chromecast, Maps and Search; all powered by a Go AppEngine backend.

See you at I/O, or online at +GoogleMapsAPI and @GoogleMapsAPI.

Posted by Mano Marks, Developer Relations Team

New Place IDs and Add-a-Place features in the Places API!

Maps Devel — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:03:00 +0000

With rich autocomplete and place search functionality, the Google Places API includes several powerful features to find, discover, and interact with the world’s places. Now we’re making it even easier for developers to work with places by launching Place IDs and enhancements to our Add-a-Place functionality!

Place IDs

Until today, Places API developers had to work with a dual-ID system: IDs (id) were used to compare places and References (reference) were for fetching a place’s information. The new Place IDs (place_id) can serve both those purposes, and are also shorter and simpler than the typically long and unwieldy References.

With today’s launch, Place IDs will be returned in all responses that include the existing ID and Reference fields, and they can also be used instead of References to uniquely identify a place in Place Details requests. We believe Place IDs have clear functional and simplicity benefits over the previous ID and Reference system, and we’ll be removing IDs and Reference support from the Places API a year from now, on June 24th, 2015.

Add-a-Place

While Google strives to bring developers the freshest local data, sometimes users know about places before we do, and we want to make sure they can add and interact with new places right away. That’s why the Places API has an Add-a-Place feature, that with today’s update, can also include a new place’s address, website, and phone number in the request.

This additional data will be automatically associated and returned with the new place, so end-users can benefit from additional useful place information without forcing developers to store extra data. The new fields also help streamline Google’s internal place moderation process, which augments Google’s places repository with places added via the Places API, leading to more up-to-date, comprehensive, and accurate local data for everyone.

A great example of how to integrate the Add-a-Place feature is Zodio, a popular social location-based app from Thailand. They use the Places API’s Add-a-Place feature in their check-in experience so their users can always share where they are, even if the place is currently missing from the Places API.

Please visit our developer documentation to learn more about the Places API. As you build the next awesome location-based app, please post any questions to our StackOverflow community and send us feedback via the Google Maps API Issue Tracker.

Posted by David McLeish and Kevin Tran, Software Engineers, Google Places API

Sunsetting the Google Maps JavaScript API Panoramio and Weather libraries, and a Flash Maps API reminder

Maps Devel — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 23:41:00 +0000

In the past few years we’ve seen GeoJSON explode as a method to share geographic data and developers are using GeoJSON to create amazing visualizations. As a consequence, however, we’re seeing less interest in non-customizable layers directly provided by API providers.

So, starting today, we will begin sunsetting the Google Maps JavaScript API v3 Panoramio Library and Weather Library. Per the terms of our deprecation policy, the Panoramio, weather, and cloud layers served by these libraries will continue to function until one year from today and will be removed on June 4, 2015.

We’d also like to remind developers that the Flash Maps API’s deprecation period ends on September 2, 2014. The Flash Maps API will shut down on that date, so if you’re still using the API, it’s time to start planning your migration.

If you have any questions about these announcements, our friendly developer relations team is always happy to help. Please tag questions with ‘google-maps-api-3’ on StackOverflow and we’ll respond shortly.

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps APIs

Street View is here! What’s new in the Google Maps Android API v2

Maps Devel — Tue, 27 May 2014 22:15:00 +0000

The new release of the Google Maps Android API v2 is now available! Read on to find out about Street View and programmatic control of indoor maps available in the Google Play Services 4.4 release.

Street View

Street View is here! Let your users navigate through Street View's panoramic 360-degree views themselves, or programmatically control the zoom and orientation of the Street View camera. You can enable and disable Street View controls and gestures, as well as toggle the display of street names on or off. The Street View coverage available through the Google Maps Android API v2 is the same as that for the Google Maps for Android app on your Android device. Take a look at these two apps using Street View to help users get even more out of their experience.

Runtastic Running & Fitness, which helps people map and track their fitness activities, now features Street View. When you review a completed activity, Street View panoramas of places you’ve passed by are presented as a slideshow. You can even go full screen to explore the surroundings of your route in greater detail.

Do you have a store locator in your app, but wish that users could tell whether your store is in a strip mall or on the street? Now you can! You can even bring users into your store using Business View. The same StreetViewPanorama object provides seamless access to both indoor Business View and outdoor Street View imagery.

The Walgreens App has integrated Google Street View with its Store Locator feature, making it easier than ever for Walgreens customers to get in, get out and get on with their day. With the updated Store Locator feature, customers can easily find a Walgreens, access store details and view the store location up close.

Programmatic Control of Indoor Maps

In this release, we’ve added programmatic control to Indoor Maps. You can disable the default level picker (floor picker) by calling setIndoorLevelPickerEnabled(false) and add your own custom level picker instead. You can also determine which building and level is currently in focus and set a listener to be called when a new building comes into focus or a new level is activated within a building. This is particularly useful if you want to show custom markup for the active level.

We’re always interested to hear how you’re using Google Maps APIs, so let us know if you’ve got something cool to show by tagging +Google Maps API on your posts (or comment right here). For technical questions that aren’t answered in the developer documentation, check out the Google Maps developer community on Stack Overflow. Don’t forget to tell us what you’d like to see in the next release using the Google Maps API issue tracker.

Posted by Megan Boundey, Product Manager, Google Maps Mobile SDKs

Code School and the Google Maps SDK for iOS

Maps Devel — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:48:00 +0000

Are you an iOS developer interested in adding a map to your application? The instructional experts at Code School set out to create a course introducing the Google Maps SDK for iOS to developers like you — and they delivered!

Exploring Google Maps for iOS is a free course covering everything from adding a simple map, to using geocoding and directions, to incorporating Street View in iOS. You'll end up with a working sample application and gain the knowledge you need to build your own amazing Google Maps-based apps. Learn from videos, sample code, and Xcode-based coding challenges.

Check out the introduction video below, and then head over to Code School to get started with their interactive course!

You can also read our official developer documentation and reference docs at https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/ios/.

Posted by Mike Jeffrey, Maps API Team

Build a map infographic with Google Maps & JavaScript

Maps Devel — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 15:32:00 +0000

We recently announced the launch of the data layer in the Google Maps JavaScript API, including support for GeoJSON and declarative styling. Today we’d like to share a technical overview explaining how you can create great looking data visualizations using Google Maps.

Here’s our end goal. Click through to interact with the live version.

Data provided by the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

The map loads data from two sources: the shape outlines (polygons) are loaded from a public Google Maps Engine table and we query the US Census API for the population data. You can use the controls above the map to select a category of data to display (the "census variable"). The display is then updated to show a choropleth map shading the various US regions in proportion to the values recorded in the census.

How it works

When the map loads, it first queries the Google Maps Engine API to retrieve the polygons defining the US state boundaries and render them using the loadGeoJson method. The controls on the map are used to select a data source and then execute a query against the US Census Data API for the specified variable.

Note: At the time of writing, the data layer and functions described here require you to use the experimental (3.exp) version of the Maps API.

Loading polygons from Maps Engine

The Maps Engine API's Table.Features list method returns resources in GeoJSON format so the API response can be loaded directly using loadGeoJson. For more information on how to use Maps Engine to read public data tables, check out the developer guide.

The only trick in the code below is setting the idPropertyName for the data that is loaded. When we load the census data we'll need a way to connect it with the Maps Engine data based on some common key. In this case we're using the 'STATE' property.

Importing data from the US Census API

The US Census Bureau provides an API for querying data in a number of ways. This post will not describe the Census API, other than to say that the data is returned in JSON format. We use the state ID, provided in the 2nd column, to look up the existing state data (using the lookupId method of google.maps.Data) and update with the census data (using the setProperty method of google.maps.Data)

Styling the data

Data can be styled through the use of a Data.StyleOptions object or through a function that returns a Data.StyleOptions object. Here we create a choropleth map by applying a gradient to each polygon in the dataset based on the value in the census data.

In addition to the coloring, we've created an interactive element by adding events that respond to mouse activity. When you hover your mouse cursor (or finger) over a region with data, the border becomes heavier and the data card is updated with the selected value.

We’ve also used a custom basemap style in this example to provide some contrast to the colorful data.

Check out Google Maps Engine if you need somewhere to store your geospatial data in the cloud, as we’ve done here. If you have any questions on using these features, check out the docs for the data layer and the Maps Engine API or head over to Stack Overflow and ask there. You can also check out this article’s permanent home, where the interactive version lives.

Posted by Mark McDonald, Google Developer Relations Team

Maps made easier: GeoJSON in the JavaScript Maps API

Maps Devel — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 03:58:00 +0000

Maps give us an easy way to visualize all types of information, from patterns in health expenditure across the world, to oceans with the highest concentration of coral reefs at risk. The tools used to create these maps should be just as easy to use. That’s why, starting today, the JavaScript Maps API will support GeoJSON, making it simpler for developers to visualize richer data, with even cleaner code.

GeoJSON has emerged as a popular format for sharing location-based information on the web, and the JavaScript Maps API is embracing this open standard. This means, as a developer, you can now pull raw data from multiple data sources, such as the US Geological Survey or Google Maps Engine, and easily display it on your website.

How does it work? The new Data layer allows you to treat a dataset like… well, a set of data, rather than individual and unrelated features. If you have a GeoJSON file, you can now load it on the map simply by adding a single line of code to your JavaScript:

map.data.loadGeoJSON(‘earthquakes.json’);

Earthquakes over the past week loaded on the map

USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Tada! And what’s more, most places have attributes beyond just location: stores have opening times, rivers have current speed, and each Girl Guide troop has cookie selling turf. The Data layer allows you to represent all attributes in GeoJSON right on the map and make decisions about what data to display more easily.

You can use this information to create a styling function that says, “show the earthquakes as circles, scaled to their magnitude” and as the data or rules are updated, the styling will automatically be applied to every feature. This beats having to manually update each feature or rule as more information is added to the map.

Earthquakes over the past week, with a styling function applied

USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Earthquakes over the past week, with additional color and basemap styling applied

USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Get started by checking out our developer docs, the code for these earthquake maps, this cool demo showing data from different sources, and this Google Developers Live video. This is a new feature, so if you run into problems or think of any additions you’d love to see, get help on StackOverflow and check our support page for the right tags to use.

We’re looking forward to seeing what you build with this new tool and, as always, we’re eager for your feedback. Please comment on this post or on our Google+ Page.

Posted by Jen Kovnats, Product Manager on the Maps API Team

Streamlining code in the JavaScript Maps API

Maps Devel — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 21:44:00 +0000

Since the Google Maps JS API v3 launched in 2009, we have added lots of new features. And we’ve also made occasional modifications to the API to minimize and simplify common code pathways for developers.

Today we want to announce two small, but useful, changes we have recently made. The first lessens the amount of code required to create a map. The second evolves the API towards a more standard pattern of using plain JavaScript objects.

The first change was introduced quietly a few versions ago, and made the Map Type an optional parameter (defaulting to the standard ROADMAP type) when instantiating a new map.

The second change is available in versions 3.16 of the API and above, and introduces a new way of creating a location: instead of google.maps.LatLng(37.5, -122.5), you can now simply pass in a plain JavaScript object like {lat: 37.5, lng: -122.5}.

Let’s take a look at how these changes affect the original code from our launch announcement above:

Original:

var myOptions = {
     zoom: 8,
     center: new google.maps.LatLng(-34.397, 150.644),
     mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
   };

New

   var myOptions = {
     zoom: 8,
     center: {lat: -34.397, lng: 150.644}
   };

Note that since the order of the values no longer matters, the following is equally valid:

center: {lng: 150.644, lat: -34.397}

The end result is less code needed to instantiate a basic map, less opportunity for confusion regarding coordinate ordering, and a more flexible way to create locations.

Note that google.maps.LatLng will continue to work, and there’s no need to modify any of your existing code. These new features are simply designed to help those getting started, and help you create more streamlined and readable code.

As always, we love to get feedback on how even minor changes like this affect your workflow. You can comment on this post or on our Google+ Page. And as always, you can get help on StackOverflow. Check out our support page for the right tags to use.

Posted by Josh Livni, Maps API Team

Adding the new Google Maps to your website just got easier with the new Google Maps Embed API

Maps Devel — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 22:19:00 +0000

Since we introduced the ability to embed the new Google Maps, a growing number of sites across the web have been helping their visitors visualize and remember places, using maps built for them. However, we know that many sites require multiple maps, and repeatedly generating them can be a challenge.

Today we're making this easier by launching the Google Maps Embed API, giving developers the ability to generate HTML snippets that embed Google Maps within their own website. Using the API to take control of your embedded maps, you can now effortlessly customize the location and appearance of the map with a handful of simple URL parameters.

For example, our friends at the Guggenheim in New York are using the Google Maps Embed API, allowing visitors to save the location to Google Maps directly from the website. Visitors can then quickly plan their day and navigate to the museum by pulling up their saved places on any device with Google Maps.

Over in San Francisco, SFMOMA is using the Google Maps Embed API to show the museum’s temporary exhibit locations. Visitors can get easily get directions to these locations and save them to Google Maps for later viewing on any of their devices.

In addition, over the coming weeks, we’ll be updating existing classic Google Maps embeds to the new format so visitors can enjoy a consistent embedded Google Maps experience across the web. This also means that starting today, the Maps/Earth APIs Terms of Service will apply to all updated embedded Google Maps.

Finally, as with our existing embedded maps, the Google Maps Embed API is free and without limits, and the new API also includes the same on-map ad experience we introduced to embedded maps in November.

To get started, head over to our developers page and embed away!

Posted by Ben Greenwood and Ken Hoetmer, Product Managers, Google Maps APIs

Fab Friday Android Video Roundup

Maps Devel — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Last November I moved to Zürich. The chocolate has been so entrancing that I’m falling behind on my Fab Friday posts! The last few weeks have seen a number of Google Android Maps API videos going out, so I thought I’d do a roundup for you.

First up, Paul Saxman worked on a video with the Android team. Let’s take a look at that one first: UXD - What is Context and Why Does it Matter? Nazmul Idris and Paul Saxman distill user research data to show you how people use their devices, what expectations they have from them, and how this changes with their context.

Paul also brings us Getting Started with Markers on Android, where he covers the basics of adding markers to your map using the Google Maps Android API v2.

Next up, we have one from a newcomer to GDLs, Sarah Maddox. Sarah brings you Map Padding in the Google Maps Android API v2. With map padding, you can allow a sidebar or other UI features to hide part of a map, without hiding the Google logo and map UI controls.

Lastly, two of our fantastic interns, Emma Yeap and Iris Uy, worked on additions to the Google Maps Android API Utility Library, and included this video explaining the new and much asked for Heatmap library. Great work!

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend and happy mapping!

Posted by Mano Marks, Google Maps API Team

Marker Clustering and Heatmaps: New features in the Google Maps Android API Utility Library

Maps Devel — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 23:14:00 +0000

A new version of the Google Maps Android API Utility Library is now available, which includes some cool new data visualisation features - marker clustering and heatmaps.

Marker Clustering

When you have a lot of data to show, it can be hard to keep your app from becoming cluttered and messy. One solution is to group nearby markers into a single marker (cluster marker). When viewed zoomed in, individual markers are shown. However, as the user zooms out, markers group together into a single cluster marker.

You can also easily customize the appearance of individual and clustered markers.

Left: clustered markers with default look
Right: custom rendering for clusters using the IconGenerator utility

Marker clustering is ideal for visualising a large number of elements on a map whilst minimising clutter. You see a concise summary of your data when zoomed out, and as the markers separate when you zoom in, you don't lose any detail from your data.

Heatmaps

Heatmaps are another new visualisation available in the utility library. Heatmaps represent geospatial data on a map by using different colours to represent areas with different concentrations of points - showing overall shape and concentration trends. Heatmaps are also known as "intensity maps".

For an overview of the heatmaps library, watch the video below:

You can use a heatmap to visualise any data set that has a geospatial component. For example, the below heatmap shows the population of cities around the world, with cities as points on the heatmap, weighted by population:

To get started with the Android Maps API Utility Library, view the setup guide - you can also view our guides on how to use the marker clustering and the heatmap features. For a summary of previously existing features in the utility library, view Chris Broadfoot's Maps Shortcuts video. As always, if you have any problems using the Android Maps API or the Utility Library, post to StackOverflow - our support page has the right tags to use.

Posted by Emma Yeap and Iris Uy, Engineering Practicum interns at Google Sydney

Gradient Polylines and Structured Reverse Geocoding Results: Google Maps SDK for iOS v1.7

Maps Devel — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:24:00 +0000

A new release of the Google Maps SDK for iOS is now available! Read on to find out about the new features included in v1.7.

Gradient Polylines

In this release we’ve included gradient polylines which allow you to apply different colors to different segments of your polylines. This allows you to easily indicate changes along your polyline such as speed or elevation.

There are two options:

the first is to have the color gradually changing into another color (gradient polyline),
the second is to use different blocks of color along your polyline.

The example below visualizes the elevation along a route using a gradient polyline.

Structured Reverse Geocoding

In the past, our reverse geocoder, GMSGeocoder, has responded to a latitude/longitude request with the address as a formatted string. In v1.7, GMSGeocoder can return the address as a GMSAddress object, enabling you to easily access the different parts of an address without needing to parse a string. For example if you’re only interested in the country, this is available as address.country. Check out the developer guide for further information about the properties available to you.

URL Schemes & x-callback-url

The comgooglemaps URL scheme lets you launch Google Maps for iOS, displaying the map at a particular location and zoom level, showing the results of a search, or showing directions. In addition to driving, public transit and walking directions, we’ve now added biking directions to the URL scheme.

There may be times, though, when you want to open Google Maps for iOS directly from within your app, but also want to provide the ability for users to easily return to your app via a back button when they are finished. X-callback-url, an open specification for inter-app communication and messaging between iOS apps, lets you do just that. We’ve documented how to use x-callback-url to launch Google Maps for iOS, and also how to help guide users back to your app when they are ready.

High fidelity 3D buildings

Finally, some of you may know that Google Maps for iOS now has some higher fidelity 3D buildings. If you’d like your app to have access to these 3D buildings, you’ll need to upgrade to v1.7 of the Google Maps SDK for iOS. Check out our favorite, the Eiffel Tower!

We’ve also included a few bug fixes which you can read about in the release notes.

We’re always interested to hear how you’re using the Maps APIs, so let us know if you’ve got something cool to show by tagging +Google Maps API on your posts (or comment right here). For technical questions that aren’t answered in the developer documentation, check out the Google Maps developer community on Stack Overflow. Don’t forget to tell us what you’d like to see in the next release using the Google Maps API issue tracker.

Posted by Megan Boundey, Product Manager, Google Maps Mobile APIs

Fab Friday is a Google Maps video fest

Maps Devel — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 04:12:00 +0000

G’day and welcome to Fab Friday! It’s holiday time in many places around the world, and what better way to celebrate than to watch a series of videos. So kick back, relax, and snag some cool mapping skills.

Mano Marks presents an entire series in one go – four videos on getting started with the Google Maps JavaScript API. Here’s episode 1:

That rocks! Follow right along with the episodes 2, 3 and 4. Now you’re ready to map and roll.

See how to import data into Google Maps Engine with Josh Livni and Mark McDonald. Google Maps Engine (GME) provides an easy way to create and share maps, and to put data into the Google cloud. Josh and Mark walk through some Python examples, showing various ways to import vector and raster data into your GME account:

Tap the geospatial data in Freebase to put knowledge on your map. Freebase is a dataset of well-known facts about people, places, businesses, and other entities, derived from the web. Josh Livni and Ewa Gasperowicz show you how to query the Freebase API and get back information to put on a map:

Looking for some stylish color schemes for your maps? Want to simplify, hide, or highlight specific map features? Paul Saxman talks about Snazzy Maps by Atmist, a community-driven repository of map styles for Google Maps. Paul shows you how to add the custom map styles to your app using the Google Maps JavaScript API, and also how to contribute styles to Snazzy Maps yourself:

Ready for more shows from the Google Maps API team? Find them all at Google Developers Live.

Posted by Sarah Maddox, Maps Developer Relations team

Jazz up your site or blog with the new Google Maps embed

Maps Devel — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 01:31:00 +0000

Earlier today, we introduced a feature in the new Google Maps that enables you to embed a Google Map by copying and pasting an HTML snippet. Make sure you’re opted in, and then head over to Google Maps, click on the gear icon on the lower right, and give it a go.

Like the new Google Maps, embedded maps are now built for you. Your users can sign in to these maps to see relevant content, like their saved places from Google Maps. Conversely, they can also save a location from your embedded map for viewing on Google Maps for desktop or mobile.

To top it off, embedded maps are free of usage limits, so you don’t have to worry about quotas.

Finally, over the coming weeks we’ll be introducing a new ad experience we think is attractive for users of the new Google Maps embed. This new on-map design will allow relevant local businesses to connect with your users, similar to the ads you currently see in the new Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile. As part of this release, we’ve also updated the Google Maps/Earth APIs Terms of Service to enable us to launch new APIs with advertising. Existing APIs and new APIs launched without advertising retain the requirement for Google to provide 90 days notice prior to including ads.

Happy embedding!

Posted by Ken Hoetmer, Product Manager, Google Maps API

Fab Friday is Catching Up

Maps Devel — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone! Fab Friday is back. We went into a long hiatus since the last post back in October. A lot has been happening in the last few weeks, so I thought I’d jump back on and let you know about it all. We launched:

We also sunsetted the Google Maps API v2, our venerable Maps platform, and helped people migrate to v3.

And finally, Fab Friday isn’t complete without a video. This week we’ve got Mapping Big Data with Google's Cloud Platform, with Francesc Campoy Flores and Kurt Schwehr. Take a look:

That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend, and happy mapping!

Posted by Mano Marks, Maps Developer Relations team

Better predictions with Google Places API Autocomplete

Maps Devel — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 16:31:00 +0000

While adding location-awareness to your application can bring tons of value and joy to your users, requiring them to type out full addresses or location queries often does the opposite. The Places API Autocomplete service, a feature of Google Places API and the Google Maps API v3’s Places Library, brings the same type-ahead-search technology from Google Maps to third party apps, helping you soothe some of your users’ address entry frustration.

To make autocomplete even more accurate and useful, we’re excited to announce an update that automatically biases predictions towards the user’s location based on the requester’s IP address. Now, results that are closer to the user will appear sooner in the API’s responses, saving users even more keystrokes and time. For a calendar app like Sunrise, where editing and adding locations quickly is important, this is a clear win for their users.

If you don’t want automatic location biasing via IP address, it can always be turned off by including other location biasing parameters in the autocomplete requests.

We’re also happy to announce our documentation now also includes a handy CSS guide to help developers add their own flair and style to the Autocomplete widgets.

With more accurate responses and customizability options, the Places API team is looking forward to more useful and beautiful autocomplete integrations. Please visit our developer documentation to learn more about the Places API. If you have technical questions, post them to the Google Maps API StackOverflow community, and if you have any feedback, please send it to us using the Google Maps API Issue Tracker.

Posted by Kevin Tran, Places API software engineer

Ghost markers in your neighborhood? New features for the Google Maps Android API v2

Maps Devel — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:03:00 +0000

A new version of Google Play services is currently rolling out to devices. You can start developing for it now using the latest Google Play services SDK along with the new Android 4.4 (KitKat) emulator. Read on to find out about the new features added for the Google Maps Android API v2.

Whether your app tracks ghost sightings, shows witch flight paths, or guides users to the nearest zombie-proof safehold, sometimes the best way to highlight important information is to de-emphasise some elements of your app. The new alpha property for Markers allows you to fade markers in and out as they become more or less important.

You can further tailor the map to your use case using the new setBuildingsEnabled() method to control the visibility of 3D buildings. This is especially useful when you want to highlight your own content. We’ve also made it possible to easily change ground overlay images with the new setImage() method.

Lastly, we’ve added an OnMapLoadedCallback callback interface to notify you when the map has finished rendering. The following example code shows how this callback can be combined with the snapshot feature to ensure the snapshot captures the fully rendered map:

We’re always interested to hear how you’re using the Maps APIs, so let us know if you’ve got something cool to show by tagging +Google Maps API on your posts (or comment right here!). For technical questions that aren’t answered in the developer documentation, check out the Google Maps developer community on Stack Overflow. Don’t forget to tell us what you’d like to see in the next release using the Google Maps API issue tracker.

Posted by Daniel Schramm, Associate Product Manager, Google Maps Mobile APIs