I want to make and Android app which has a map and a list of nearest custom places. By custom I mean places which may be not present in Google Places. What is the best way to do this?
At first I thought that Google Maps and Google Places List can be a good idea but I didn't like API keys (but if there is no other way I will deal with them) and I didn't quite understood the Adding Place part. How many Places can I add?
Are there any other services I can read about?
I believe that I don't have to implement nearest place search myself as it is a common task, I think.
If.. "by custom you mean places which may be not present in Google Places", then there should be no point in using the Google Places List (I assume you are talking about the Auto complete.) even if you like the API keys....
I think you should do handle and show your custom places outside of the Google Maps API logic. Like, create your custom list view somewhere outside of the Maps view, or overlay on top of it.
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How to add a polyline to google map in android above street/area name?
I think this is not possible in an easy way due to how google maps API handles the "background".
If you set the background to normal or hybrid, the map is drawn as a background either in road view like your screenshot or in satellite view if hybrid is selected.
Then all the users features are drawn (and eventually overlays, lines, poligons, then points and lastly, street names. You can't really change this, but you could do a trick:
- Use just the satellite view (so no roads will be added).
- Remove the google background and add an alternative one (there are different services like Open Street Map, Mapnik ecc that allows it).
Following the second choice could also allow to add googlemaps background from web api, but I really don't advice to do it, since you are downloading tiles in a non standard way for google.
I have an android app that displays markers on map when we select from a list of type of places from Google Places. But I want to add my own data onto the map,other than the places in Google Places, given known lang and long. I don't want to use javascript. Is there a way to do this?
Yes, you can display your own data in a couple of different ways natively on Android. You can put down a marker at the point of interest with a custom info window. Here's a tutorial. You could also use an overlay, like a ground overlay, to show your info directly on the map. This method can either use pre-made images, or you can create your own bitmaps at runtime.
So, my question is somewhat of an odd request I think. I was an intermediate java programmer making android apps a couple years ago, but I quit for other things. Now I'm back with a new and (I think) somewhat bold idea and I need help.
I'm wanting to know if it is possible to utilize the google maps api to act as a base for another map that I layer over the top. Think of it as I'm changing the way the map looks and that's about it.
I'm wanting to create a mobile app that has a map with a new/different look than what the base and satellite views have for a set small area of the city. Think of it as something like taking any old image and slapping it over the top of the google map and still being able to navigate with it (obviously if it was a random picture you wouldn't be able to see where it was taking you, but in theory you could essentially create a new map).
Is this possible in both java and obj c?
As far ask I know, you can't add your own tile layer to the Google Maps API for Android. However, you can use osmdroid and add your own tiles. You could also use mapsforge for Android. It comes with it's own tool for creating custom map tiles.
On the Google maps web interface if you zoom in enough you can see businesses that are clickable. When you click the business you get the a speach bubble with a brief description of the business.
Even on the native android Google map you can tap businesses and get a link to the business information.
My question is that within a MapView is it possible to add my own overlay that when tapped loads the business info of a pre existant business? Is it possible to associate my overlay with a business in some way. I imagine that I could do this if I duplicated the html found on the google map in some way into my overlay, but I was hoping to avoid this.
In the past I have used this. https://github.com/jgilfelt/android-mapviewballoons Not sure how to pull info though.
My question is that within a MapView is it possible to add my own overlay that when tapped loads the business info of a pre existant business?
Assuming you find a source for the data, sure.
I imagine that I could do this if I duplicated the html found on the google map in some way into my overlay, but I was hoping to avoid this.
I highly doubt that will work.
First, you must find a Web service or something that has the data you seek. Then, you need to license that data. Then, you need to figure out how you want to render that data on the map overlay. The first two of those steps are the tricky ones.
well i was able to find loads of information on how to create my own custom overlays onto the map, but none on how can i use the ones that google already has put on.
I basically want to use all the overlays of one type (say the Hotel overlay icons) and get their geoPoints and then use them in any way i want...right now i have to manually get the geoPoint of every such hotel overlay and then use them, which is pretty painful considering google has already marked them out...but i have no idea how can i use them..
Any idea how can i do this?
Those are not available to Android SDK developers -- they are part of the proprietary Google Maps application. The only pre-built overlay available to SDK developers is MyLocationOverlay.