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Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript

Follow these steps to get set up with data-driven styling for boundaries.

Enable the new maps renderer

An upgraded map renderer is available as of version 18.0.0 of the Maps SDK for Android. This renderer brings many improvements, including support for Cloud-based maps styling, to Maps SDK for Android.

With the release of version 18.2.0 of the Maps SDK for Android, Google switched the default renderer from the legacy renderer to the upgraded map renderer. This change means that the upgraded map renderer is now used by default in your app when you build a new app or rebuild an existing app.

Caution: To use data-driven styling for boundaries in your app, your app must be built using the upgraded map renderer. If you are adding data-driven styling for boundaries to an existing app, ensure that you rebuild the app so that your app uses the upgraded map renderer. For more information, see New Map Renderer.

Create a map ID

To create a new map ID, follow the steps at Create a map ID. Make sure you set the Map type to Android.

Create a new map style

To create a new map style, follow the instructions in Manage map styles to create the style, and associate the style with the map ID you just created.

Select the feature layers in your new map style

In the Google API Console you can select which feature layers to display for your new map style. The feature layer determines which kinds of boundaries appear on the map (for example localities, states, and so on).

Important: For optimal performance, only select the layers you need.

1. In the Google API Console, go to the Map Styles page.
2. Select a project if prompted.
3. Select a map style.
4. Click the Feature layers drop-down to add or remove layers.
5. Click Save to save your changes and make them available to your maps.

Update your map initialization code

This step requires the map ID you just created. It can be found on your Maps Management page.

To add the map ID to your initialization code, see Add the map ID to your app.

Get access to a feature layer of a map

You use a FeatureLayer object to represent each feature layer of a map, such as a Postal Code or Locality feature layer. To get access to a feature layer object, call GoogleMap.getFeatureLayer() when the map initializes:

Java

private FeatureLayer postalCodeLayer;

@Override
public void onMapReady(GoogleMap map) {
  // Get the POSTAL_CODE feature layer.
  postalCodeLayer = map.getFeatureLayer(new FeatureLayerOptions.Builder()
    .featureType(FeatureType.POSTAL_CODE)
    .build());
  ...
}

Kotlin

private var postalCodeLayer: FeatureLayer? = null

override fun onMapReady(googleMap: GoogleMap) {
  // Get the POSTAL_CODE feature layer.
  postalCodeLayer = googleMap.getFeatureLayer(new FeatureLayerOptions.Builder()
    .featureType(FeatureType.POSTAL_CODE)
    .build())
  ...
}

Pass a FeatureLayerOptions object to getFeatureLayer() to specify the type of the feature layer. In this example, you want to access the POSTAL_CODE layer. Create a different FeatureLayer object for each layer that you want to style.

Once you have the FeatureLayer object, you can apply styling to the boundary polygons in that feature.

Note: If a FeatureLayer of the specified type does not exist for the map, or if data-driven styling for boundaries is not enabled because you have not specified the map ID, this call returns but logs an error. Use the FeatureLayer.isAvailable() method to determine if a FeatureLayer is available.

Check map capabilities (required)

Data-driven styling for boundaries requires a map ID. If the map ID is missing, or an invalid map ID is passed, data-driven styling for boundaries cannot load. As a troubleshooting step, you can use MapCapabilities to check if data-driven styling for boundaries is supported.

Caution: Some devices might not support the new map renderer and therefore cannot display data-driven styling for boundaries. You must use MapCapabilities to check for support at runtime. If data-driven styling for boundaries is not supported, define a fallback option. For device requirements for the new map renderer, see Supported devices.

Kotlin

val capabilities: MapCapabilities = googleMap.getMapCapabilities()
System.out.println("Data-driven Styling is available: " + capabilities.isDataDrivenStylingAvailable())

Java

MapCapabilities capabilities = googleMap.getMapCapabilities();
System.out.println("Data-driven Styling is available: " + capabilities.isDataDrivenStylingAvailable());