it's been days since I started reading pages and pages on the internet in order to clean my mind on the question up here (for an assignment).
I have to write a school assignment about the differences between the location APIs on the Android platform and those ones introduced with the Google Play Services. So far so good, in a certain way.
My doubt regards what my teacher said (and well, it's the title of the assigment): "Analysis of Android 5 location APIs and comparison with older versions of the platform".
Android 5 came out during November 2014.
What I was thinking to write about was the introduction of FusedLocationProviderAPI and all its features but I can't find anywhere when these location APIs were added to Google Play Services. It seems they've been put out before the rollout of Android 5.
My question is, am I on the right way? In other case, what kind of new location based feature has been introduced with Android 5?
thanks
Related
Hi today google send me this email about all my application that use Google Place picker in ios and android.
*Today we're launching upgraded Places SDKs for Android and iOS. They are pay-as-you-go and billed at the same rate as our Places API and Places Library in the Maps JavaScript API. You can visit the Android and iOS migration guides to install the new SDKs.
Effective January 29, 2019, the upgraded Places SDKs for Android and iOS will replace the existing versions of the Places SDKs - please read our documentation for more information. The existing Places SDKs (including the Place Picker feature) can continue being used by current customers of these SDKs until July 29, 2019. In order to avoid service disruption, please start using the upgraded SDK versions before July 29, 2019.
We have identified that your projects listed below are using Places API and will be impacted by this change:
#
We have noticed that you do not have a billing account with a valid form of payment. Please update your billing account and associate it to your project(s) by July 29, 2019 to avoid service interruption.
We understand this announcement may have an impact on your implementations. If you have any questions, or require further assistance, please contact Google Maps Platform Support.*
Does this means that by by July 29, 2019 all my apps that use Place Picker will not function correctly because Google decided to remove it?
What am i suppose to do? Really confused again. Thanks Google!
My app heavily depended on the PlacePicker and It was free. Though there is a migration guide, but the new APIs are not free and have an upper cap on free usage. SO I built a Place picker that lets you pick places from a map using Geocoder and its free Check it out: https://github.com/suchoX/PlacePicker
As far as I can tell, the placepicker UI that they provided will no longer be available. You will have to find a replacement for the UI or come up with something on your own. You can still use the SDK to get autocompletion in order to simulate what the placepicker was doing. Everything that made the placepicker UI work is still there, they are just deprecating and no longer supporting the UI.
It says what you are supposed to do in the email google sent you. From yesterday, you have up to July 29, 2019 to implement and start using the updated SDK versions just for the Places API in place of the old. Once you have done this release it. Make sure you do this for all your apps that are effected by this update. If you don't do this, your apps can possibly still function but that feature will not.
EDIT:
On this page you can see the Deprecation notice
When you click the Android Migration we can see that you can install the compatibility library to continue using the Place Picker during the deprecation period. After this the place picker will no longer work.
Looks like you have to find another way to do what the place picker is currently doing for you.
Place Picker old version will be turned off from jul 29 2019 but migration option available
Migration Guide here
I'm building a simple android app that uses Google maps api to display map and navigation. As you may know Google maps need Play services Library to run on client android phone. i want my app to run in much older android OS's(14,15,..)
Problems:
1- Clients need to install or activate Play services app.
2- then Clients have to update play services app to the latest version to use my app with google maps.
3- how to make app to run in older androids? just by specifying min sdk ?
so in order to solve first and third problem i've no idea but for the second one :
building project with older Play service dependencies may help but i dont know how to do this or even it helps or not.
it'll appreciate if guys offer any solutions !
Thank you all.
What are the recommended practices for maintaining the widest backwards compatibility of an Android app while depending on Google Play Services?
Here are the pointers I was able to aggregate concerning backwards compatibility, including those that use Google Play Services.
The Google Maps Android API uses OpenGL ES version 2 to render the map. The least Android API version that has support for this is API 8 or Android 2.2 .
Compile against the oldest version of Google Play Services that contains the APIs that you need. As further discussed in this thread, refrain from using wildcards like 5.+ because that updates to the latest play services. Instead use a widely used version like com.google.android.gms:play-services:5.0.89.
Use the V4 support library to verify and request permissions.
com.android.support:support-v4:23.0.1
You might also check some additional insight from this SO thread.
I was reading this tutorial http://www.androidhive.info/2015/02/android-location-api-using-google-play-services/ and I find it amazing that this one and many others never state what versions they support.
There must be a simple list which contains what libraries are for what api versions, not just Google Play library but for everything else, from reading file paths to camera api. An example would be just the camera api 2, which is for api version 21 and above. A nice list listing all of this would be very helpful!
It's extremely time consuming tracking down all of this information.
I would say that there is one - in packages documentation you can easily filter by API number.
Official Android APIs have their API number define on official Android documentation like #sebap123 said.
Google Play Services isn't part of Android itself. It's a complimentary add-on. Google Play Services runs on Android 2.3 or higher. All new GPS APIs included in GPS will run on all these devices that have GPS(Android 2.3 or higher). Unlike new Android APIs that only run on new version of Android.
I'm currently using Google maps API and directions API for getting routes, however there is a limitation upto 2500 requests per day. so while searching for a way, got confused after i came across this link..
Google Maps Mobile SDK for Business: Android
Can anyone please explain the difference between this sdk and google maps API..?
its basically a software development kit that makes use of the google maps api and helps you in development of apps that use those apis... if request limitation is an issue try other opensource apis like argcis or tomtom etc
In order to use the individual SDK such as map, you would require a key. That key is persistent, meaning once you have one, you can keep using that same key in your app manifest, regardless of how many copies of the same app you have.
However, there is a daily limit imposed on how much keys can be requested per day from google to prevent abuse. With that said, I don't think you would have a problem of requesting one. If it is given out for today, just wait till tomorrow and the limit would be refreshed.
As for the Enterprise version, you get more support over the normal version. The main differences is that you get the Business SDK as a static library rather than one using the Google Play Services. That is all.
I'm an Android platform newbie looking to port some of my Windows
Phone 7 mapping apps over here. My WP7 apps use Bing Maps which has
current maps and POI data.
I went to the Android Developers Resources center where it shows how
to develop an app using the Google Maps Library. I did that and
noticed that the maps were over 7 years old.
I posted that issue on the google groups forum and was told that Google had
apparently given up on that library. (Strange that they still feature
it in their developer resources site.)
So, if they have given up on that library, is there another library
they haven't given up on? It seems odd that Google would give up on
Google Maps (bad strategy).
What tools, libraries, etc. should an android developer use that wants
to write compelling mapping applications that can show maps, POIs, directions that use current
maps and data?
Thanks
Gary
Bing maps are not up to date ( I tested them and I can see a building that has over 3 years and still doesnt appear on bing maps). Alternatively to Google Maps, you could use Ovi Maps or your own custom maps.
My original post here was from my experience writing the android "HelloGoogleMaps" application and running it in the emulator. I navigated to my own location and saw that my whold track where I live was still natural land. This made me think that the Google Maps were way out of date. This was the general feeling of some other developers on another forum. I went to online Google Maps on the web and my tract was there so this made me think it was the MapView software that was out of date.
Today, I went back to that HeloGoogleMaps application, and again navigated back to my tract and it was there! I don't know what happened but the map is up-to-date now.
Sorry for the bogus post.
Gary