Is there a way to use the offline mode in Android apps using the Google Maps API?
Any direction to a tutorial or source code would be a massive help. I've been searching for hours without any luck. I know Google has released a way of using maps offline, but is it available for Android developers?
See this solution or this one. Basically you just create your own tileprovider and access tiles locally. It is totally doable with the v2 API. API Reference
There's some false information floating around out there that the v2 Google Maps API requires an Internet connection. There was a but where the API would require a single access after app install to verify with Google Play services, but I believe this has been fixed.
See this and this.
Related
I have a small android app project in mind and it will use the Google Maps API. I'm wondering if it is possible to save an offline map specifically for my app to use, or if I could access an offline map that is downloaded onto my google account through my app. Thank you.
No, it's not possible for 3rd party apps to control how maps data is being handled, including off-line usage. It may change in future but for now, you are out of luck.
Currently developing an app including google maps, I'm willing to make it work for China as well.
I know the situation in China evolved a bit during the last years. So I would like to know: is it possible to use google maps for an android app in China?
If I attempt to use it as it is directly, the map remains blank, taking probably too long to load or being blocked by the chinese firewall. And my phone has the google services, which is not the case of many other phones.
However, a version of google maps exists in China. See this link: http://www.google.cn/maps?hl=en
So as a part of google is not blocked, would it be possible to load the data of the google maps API for android from the chinese server when the user himself is in China or doesn't have the google services or a VPN?
I finally gave up on google maps and change to GaoDe (amap).
First because Google maps need the googles services, which are not available on Chinese phones.
Then because if there is a way with JavaScript to get to the Chinese google map ( see the following link: developers.google.com/maps/faq?hl=en#china_ws_access ), for android with java it is still not reliable.
Nearly all of the Google service are not working in China.
Most Chinese developer use Baidu or Gaode as the location provider.
I have watched tutorials on how to integrate google maps in an android application. Before I put google maps in my android application, I want to know if you need internet connection to run the application that runs google maps?
--------------------Answer to question above has been solved---------------------
I have another question. What are the things that an offline map can do? Can the offline map do pathfinding? Can you get coordinates, distances and other map data from it? Or is it just a map that can only be viewed?
If you have watched tutorials about that you might have noted that the maps api needs permission.INTERNET which is also obvious as the maps need to be loaded from Google. How else should they come to your device or simulator?
I am trying to programmatically obtain the home/work address stored in Google Maps.
It is present (at least) in the Android version of Google Maps, under "My Places" in the web version, and it is used by Google Now.
I have looked at the API docs and the Android SDK, but have found no trace of it.
Anyone know if it is possible?
Thanks.
Home and Work locations from Google Maps are not available in any of the Google Maps APIs, it's not possible to access these locations via the APIs.
I would file a Feature Request on the Issue Tracker to express your interest and share some use cases with the API team so they can consider this moving forward.
Google Maps API V2 for Android is a big leap forward compared to v1: better rendering, fragment support... But there is one grey area I am trying to clarify about its use.
I look forward to create a map-based application for an Android device that does not have Google Play on it i.e. did not pass Google validation such as a low-end tablet or a car radio, and distrbute it on third-party markets.
Such applications using V1 API are possible.
The V2 has a dependency on Google Play Services, which is available to devices with Google Play only.
Does it mean that the V2 API is definitely unavailable for the aforementioned devices?
I look forward to create a map-based application for an Android device that does not have Google Play on it i.e. did not pass Google validation such as a low-end tablet or a car radio, and distrbute it on third-party markets. Such applications using V1 API are possible.
Only because the makers of those devices pirated the Maps code, as both Maps V1 and Maps V2 are only available for manufacturers who pass validation and license that code.
Does it mean that the V2 API is definitely unavailable for the aforementioned devices?
Barring similar piracy, yes.
You can try manually install the bin files that are required for Google maps, same way as you would do if you wanted to get the emulator running a Google Map API V2.
you can get more information on how it's done from the following blog post I wrote:
link
I don't know if this solution will be applicable for those devices but you can try it.