I'm developing a map solution for a number of private buildings which does not want their floor plan or any other geographic details about their building being made public by google. I'm currently planning to plot their floor plan by drawing custom polygons on top of google maps. My concern is - Will the data I plot in google maps be sent to google servers or evaluated by them in any way? It is known that google does collect usage data. I'm not sure as to what extent they do that, or what exactly they collect. Can you clarify on this issue? And if an issue persists, can you give me some pointers to avoid this issue? I hope the situation is clear enough.
That kind of data is not (currently) sent to Google's servers. I don't know of any plans for that to happen, but I don't want to say that it will never happen, either.
What is sent to Google's servers: statistics about the usage of features of the API. This is collected so that we can focus on improving the features that are highest value to our developers.
Please do read the Terms of Service carefully. Some sections that might be of interest:
Section 4
Section 9
Related
I've noticed Google has had this feature for about a year now but I don't see it on Google Places API. If you look up a library or a gym near you, Google will show how long people typically spend at the place (like a gym nearby me, "People typically spend 45 min to 1 hr here.") Is there any way to get this information on Google Places API or is it not available yet?
You are right this information is not available via Places API yet. I can see that people have already filed a feature request for this in the Google issue tracker:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/35830308
I would suggest staring the feature request to add your vote and subscribe to further notifications. Hopefully one day Google will implement this feature in the API.
As far as I recall, Google Places API currently does not have any functionality to provide that information. You may consider filling a feature request through Google Code. Alternatively, I'd advise to simply look up the place (in your app, that is) and parse the typical visit duration manually. There are many drawbacks to this solution depending on the method you're gonna use (such as the layout of the page may change and your app will stop working, requiring an immediate update), but it's an option.
Sorry if the question is so basic I am new to android and programming.
I am going to make an app, in this app I need to show locations or maybe even directions in map lots of time. It is very likely, an interested user see the map more than 20 times in a row in just one time lunching the app.
I choose to use google map api for this application, but I saw in their website you have to pay money if your app use map more than 25000 a day and it is likely to happen if I have more than 2000 active users easily, but I am not sure I can make money with this app or not; so I have 2 choose and I am not sure about one of them:
1- using intent to show geo on an external app like google map but does it cost that money or not? (thats my main question)
2- using another api like http://www.openstreetmap.org/ or http://leafletjs.com/
Which option do you recommend? And if that's the option 2, which api do you recommend and why?
Note that the program work base on website and its data base and that website gonna have same functionality as the app and it need to use that api, site gonna use drupal-8 probably but not 100 percent sure yet.
I googled for the answer but I didnt get the answer.
1) if you do an explicit intent to maps this way https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/android-api/intents you have nothing to pay, it's an intent not an API call, in fact you don't need api key to do that.
2) I've used openstreetmap in the past, it's not difficult, but maybe it depends on your skill.
If you are really new, I suggest you to use intent. You can always switch to openstreetmap when you become more confident!
If you want to see an example with openstreetmap in my github I have a project fell free to look at the code if this helps you https://github.com/doJester13/Indoor-GPS
For Android, your users can do 150 000 Google Places requests per day, if you Enable Billing with your credit card on Google (That doesn't cost, just verifies your identify). The Maps API is completely free
By the time you have so many users that they use all the map requests, you can probably afford it.
Source: https://developers.google.com/maps/pricing-and-plans/#details
Looking for a little bit of help structuring my problem.
I will be traveling with friends to a party weekend and we are plotting locations of places to visit and see on a shared Google map with custom layers.
My thought is that I could add real-time location layers for each attendee, based on the lat/long of those with Android phones.
I'm trying to figure at the moment the elements of the code that I will need and asking the community for help structuring the design.
So far:
Working on a way to broadcast the current lat/long of the Android phone through an API
Determining the best way to import the returns (lat/long) from the API as a layer into Google Maps (thinking KML, but there may be a better solution with GPX or text files)
Once I finish 1 and 2, will write the code to accomplish the process and load to Google Maps
Any guidance is very much appreciated
Why do you need to develop everything of this sort when Google has already provided us with the My Map app. This app is available in Play Sore for Google as well as the App Store for Apple. So all your friends whether an Android or iPhone user can install this app on their phone.
With this app you all can customize the map as per the needs and share inside the group. This app explicitly serves the purpose for the vacation planning when a group is involved.
Take a look on the Google Play Store and the App Store to explore and download.
We have bulk uploaded our client's locations, and they are in the process of being verified by Google. Once that is done, we would like to use the data in our client's iOS and Android apps, as part of a Store Locator feature.
i.e. we want to lookup the exact verified business locations and associated details, by an id, as opposed to text search, which could potentially hit some other businesses, or previous listings of our client's locations (which are not the official and verified versions).
I have tried to look at both the Google Places API as well as Google Maps API, but I cannot find any mention of a group id or anything of this sort. I might be looking completely in the wrong direction, so thought it would be worth while trying SO.
So, to rephrase the question, is there an API endpoint to fetch a bulk uploaded list of locations (some 150 of them), to consume in an iOS and an Android native application. No code examples needed, just looking for a pointer to the correct Google product / API for this, if one exists.
PS> I am not familiar with Google Maps API for Work. We were hoping for a free route, but if that sorts out the use case, it's also acceptable.
Thanks!
I don't believe the Places API has the concept of a group ID that represents multiple place IDs. I think you will have to simply collect the individual Place IDs of your uploaded locations.
Simply stated, we have a considerable number of users who noticed that "reported map problems" do not update on the Android Maps API in a timely fashion.
For example, when a missing address, new road, or any other issue is submitted via the "Report a Problem" interface on the Desktop Google Maps, is seems to update on the desktop versions and the main Google Maps application for Android quickly. However, the map database used for the 2.0 API do not seem to receive these updates for a much longer period; updates can take many days or even weeks.
Our Android application is used by Emergency first-responders who spend a great deal of time driving to locations. Due to this, they routinely find incorrect information or new road development that they would like to submit and see reflected on our application, but historically, their updates only appear on the Maps App and the Desktop Maps.
I recognize that any user submitted errors must be validated by the Google team, but it appears that the Android API maps exhibit a substantially longer lag between updates than any of the other products. We are frequently asked by our clients why this is the case, and I don't have any answer.
Is there any API hook to allow API users to report errors to maps, or is there some other protocol that would be more effective here? These users are a great resource for map updates, and it seems odd that this ability is apparently missing from the API, unless it was omitted intentionally to prevent some sort of abuse?
Also, are there any general guidelines for the update process for map data on the Android API relative to the other products? Specifically, is there a time frame that users should expect to see their updates shown on the API maps, when errors are submitted via the Desktop maps?
We've been mitigating this by allowing users to overlay their own markers for updated roads, but obviously an updated map is the preferred solution.
Thank you very much.