How to use the new Places SDK for Android

Summary

Explore the new Places SDK for Android in this exciting guide, which emphasizes ease-of-use and enhanced functionality for app developers. Learn about the upgraded Places API from Google Maps Platform, now with SDK support, making your app development more straightforward by focusing on core functionalities while abstracting complexities. Get step-by-step instructions on integrating this SDK into your app, ensuring the correct version use, and performing example tasks such as creating a nearby search. With available resources like Kotlin extension libraries and GitHub samples, this guide aims to simplify your journey towards a more functional app.

Highlights

• The new Places SDK enhances app development efficiency by simplifying API complexities. 🎯
• Seamlessly integrate location features using the updated SDK, regardless of your app's language - Java or Kotlin. 🗺️
• Easily create sophisticated nearby search requests to enhance user experience. 🏙️
• Take advantage of ready-to-use resources like extension functions and code samples. 👨‍💻
• Skip migration headaches for existing customers - it's a plug-and-play upgrade! 🤝

Key Takeaways

• Google's new Places SDK makes app development easier and faster! 🚀
• No migration needed for existing customers - easy switch! 🆒
• Use the SDK to perform powerful searches without hassle. 🔍
• Support for Kotlin users makes integration seamless. 💻
• Numerous resources ready to aid your development journey. 📚

Overview

Introducing the new Places SDK for Android, Google Maps Platform has revolutionized app development, allowing developers to enhance their apps with powerful location-based features faster and with less hassle. This SDK version not only brings more place types and attributes but also simplifies the overall process by providing ready-made API calls, ensuring your focus remains on core functionalities rather than the nitty-gritty of API complexities.

Implementing the Places SDK in your Android app is a breeze! Firstly, confirm that your app uses SDK version 3.3.0 or newer. No migration is needed if you're already using the old SDK. Initialization involves a simple call at the application level, after which you can start utilizing the many features the API offers like the nearby search functionality. From defining search fields to setting exclusion criteria, this SDK handles it all effortlessly.

Catering to Kotlin enthusiasts, Google provides an extension library easing SDK integration. Passionate developers can explore the GitHub page for more code samples and extensions. Whether you're focusing on bettering location features or sharpening search functionalities, these resources provide the stepping stones for a streamlined implementation, setting the stage for what exciting developments you can unleash with this new tool in your toolkit.

How to use the new Places SDK for Android Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] ready to put your app on the map with our new places SDK it's easier than ever to find your place in the world earlier this year we launched a new version of our places API bringing features such as more place types and attributes helping your users more easily find the places they are looking for to find out more about the features of the new places API check out the launch video linked below when these new apis were launched they were only available using a direct call
• 00:30 - 01:00 this meant that when implementing in your application you would have to perform a server call yourself now we have exciting news SDK support has been launched for the new places API by providing SDK support for places API we are helping to simplify your app development allowing you to focus on the core functionality of your application without needing to understand the complexities of the underlying apis ultimately you can get your app into the
• 01:00 - 01:30 hands of your users faster now I'm going to show you how to use the new places SDK in your Android application before continuing ensure that places API new is enabled on your Google Cloud project firstly ensure your app is using the correct SDK version your app must use SDK version 3.3.0 or newer and some features are only available in version 3.5.0 or newer in initialize the SDK by calling the
• 01:30 - 02:00 places do initialize with new places API enabled method at the application Level you'll only need to do this once for the entire app if you're an existing customer great news no migration is needed after changing the initialization call the SDK is designed to have the same methods and will switch the new placers apis in the background please note that current place is only available in the old places SDK for Android to implement
• 02:00 - 02:30 current Place using places API new check out this link now we'll walk through how to make an example nearby search request in your application let's start by outlining the specifics of what we're looking for we Define a list of fields called Place fields to tell the API which details we want for each return place here we're interested in the ID and name of each place next we set our search area
• 02:30 - 03:00 for this example we're creating a circular region centered in New York City with a radius of 1,000 M to refine our search further we include and exclude specific types of places we want to find restaurants and cafes will exclude pizza places and American restaurants now let's put it all together we use a builder to create a search nearby request object this object encapsulates all the search parameters
• 03:00 - 03:30 we've defined the search area the fields we want the included and excluded types and the maximum number of results we want to get back finally we're ready to search we'll call the search nearby method on our places client and pass it our search request while the base SDK is written in Java if you're a cotlin user we have you covered on the Google Maps GitHub there is an extension library for cotlin with extension functions that sit on top of the SDK follow the link in the description
• 03:30 - 04:00 to check it out also be sure to take a look at the code and demos available on the Google Maps samples GitHub page for more tips and tricks in using the SDK follow the link in the description to learn more now you know how to use places new in your application check out the link in the description below to see the documentation and we can't wait to see what you build [Music]