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 ClusteringWhen you have a lot of data to show, it can be hard to keep your…
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.
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 example below visualizes the elevation along a route using a gradient polyline.
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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.
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.
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
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
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
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:
Posted by Mano Marks, Maps Developer Relations team
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
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