Is it possible to use Google Maps Android library in my app in a way, that the app can be installed even on phones without Google Maps? On phones without Google Maps, the maps feature would be disabled.
Is it possible to use Google Maps Android library in my app in a way, that the app can be installed even on
phones without Google Maps?
There is an undocumented android:required="false" flag you can put on the <uses-library> element. I am hopeful that they will document this in a future release. With that set to false, you would need to use reflection to see if Google Maps is loaded (e.g., try to find the MapView class) -- if not, disable whatever would lead the user to a map.
If anybody else has the same problem (I do):
On this Android Developer page it says -- as far as I can tell -- that you can reference the Maps API and thus have e.g. a map activity in your app by using Google Play services:
"The Google Maps Android APIs are not included in the Android
platform, but are available on any device with the Google Play Store
running Android 2.2 or higher, through Google Play
services.
To integrate Google Maps into your app, you need to install the Google
Play services libraries for your Android SDK. For more details, read
about Google Play
services."
Apparently it is an actual app (it is installed on my phone) that updates certain Google stuff.
So it seems it is possible, but only for devices running Android 2.2 (API level 8) and above.
I find the explanation on that site a bit unclear, however, and I have not been able to test this on my own.
In my case, I guess I have to live with the fact that not all devices will be able to install my app, since I target an API < 8.
Related
When I use Google maps api v2, Google maps comes with Google logo on lower left and some more trademark on lower right.
But recently I came across an app on play store Fake Location Spoofer Free. This app has a modified Google Logo as shown in below image
I Googled how can I modify Google logo but I could not find anything relevant. So anyone has any idea how they modified it? One more thing, I used this app on Bluestacks app player, this is the only app in which map is rendering very well. So what so special with this app. I used other apps too like FakeGps but it is not rendering well in Bluestacks app player.
Using the Android hierarchyviewer tool to find the ID of the Google logo in the view hierarchy, then get a reference to this view using findViewById and changing its visibility.
However, I would first read the Google Maps ToS to ensure this is not a violation subject to legal implications.
Spoofer app is using Google maps api version 1. Google has deprecated api version 1, so new developers can not use it. But the apps using api version 1 can continue with this. Map container has been changed in latest api, that's why apps using latest api version is not rendering correctly on Bluestacks.
Some android phones from China are not installed google play services. So, I can't use google map for them. I would like to know that is there any map sdk for the phone like this.
There are two main flavours of Android that are not using Google Play Services. Amazon and Nokia forks of Android. But they provide their own Map SDKs. Do you know which kind of Android these phones run in China? If it's a fork by major players then they would be providing their own Map SDK as well.
That being said, OpenStreet map is a widely used open alternative of Google Maps and has a SDK that you can use. You can find more information on that here https://github.com/osmdroid/osmdroid
I have been searching but couldn't find the difference between both of these things. I have read other questions in which people have said that we should use Google Apis as build target when we want to integrate Google Maps Api or use other Google apis.
The problem is that i am using maps on projects that were build on simple Android 4.4 not Google API (platform 4.4) and the maps are working just fine on my Galaxy s3.
How are they possibly working?
And if they are working then what is the difference between Google APIs and SDK platform?
Or is the difference only related to emulators?
It is really pointless to use the Google API's now because most if not all things included in that have been deprecated and moved to google play services. Selecting Google API will not do anything except maybe increase the size of your program. The difference being is in addition to the 4.4 SDK you would also get all the Google API stuff with it
You don't need (but it won't hurt you) to use Google APIs if you use Google Maps Android API v2. Google APIs is for when you work with deprecated Google Maps Android API v1 or you program USB.
The google API includes Google Maps and other Google-specific libraries. The Android one only includes core android libraries.
As for which one to choose, I would go with the Android API until you find that you need the Google API; such as when you need Google Maps functionality.
http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis/index.html is a link to the Google API page.
I have an android application that requires google maps api. I figured out that in some mobiles neither support google apis or google play by default.
By googling the workaround that I found was to add
<uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps android:required="false"/>
This makes that app to be installed on those mobiles but doesnot support loading the maps.
So is there a way to add google apis externally and support google maps loading for those mobiles ?
So is there a way to add google apis externally and support google maps loading for those mobiles ?
No, except perhaps by rooting the device and installing pirated software.
Note that Maps V2 does not require pre-installed mapping APIs, though it does require the Play Services Framework, which in turn requires the Play Store.
If you want mapping support without these limitations, use something independent, like OpenStreetMap and OSMDroid.
I'm porting my android app to playbook and keep getting an error related to not supporting Google Maps, however I don't use that anywhere in my project. It's also not mentioned anywhere in my manifest.
I'm at a loss here, not sure what to do next. Any ideas?
Just to update on this: I was able to compile and run the app on the emulator w/ that warning present so - lets see if it gets past approval process, will update.
The Google Maps API for Android is unsupported on the Blackberry Playbook. See https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/apisupport/ for a list of what can and cannot be ported.
For now, there is no way around this. If you want to create a Google Maps application for the Playbook, you will need to use the AIR SDK with the Google Maps Flash API