To configure your app to use the Places SDK for Android, follow these steps. They are required for all apps using the Places SDK for Android.
Step 1: Set up Android Studio
This document describes a development environment using Android Studio Hedgehog and the Android Gradle plugin version 8.2.
Step 2. Set up the SDK
The Places SDK for Android library is available through Google's Maven repository. To add the SDK to your app, do the following:
- In your top-level
settings.gradle
file, include the Gradle plugin portal, Google Maven repository, and Maven central repository under thepluginManagement
block. ThepluginManagement
block must appear before any other statements in the script.pluginManagement { repositories { gradlePluginPortal() google() mavenCentral() } }
- In your top-level
settings.gradle
file, include the Google's Maven repository and Maven central repository under thedependencyResolutionManagement
block:dependencyResolutionManagement { repositoriesMode.set(RepositoriesMode.FAIL_ON_PROJECT_REPOS) repositories { google() mavenCentral() } }
-
In the
dependencies
section of your module-levelbuild.gradle
file, add a dependency to the Places SDK for Android:Groovy
dependencies { // If updating kotlin-bom version number above, also edit project-level build.gradle definition of $kotlin_version variable implementation(platform("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-bom:$kotlin_version")) implementation 'com.google.android.libraries.places:places:3.3.0' }
Kotlin
dependencies { implementation(platform("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-bom:$kotlin_version")) implementation("com.google.android.libraries.places:places:3.5.0") }
- In your module-level
build.gradle
file, setcompileSdk
andminSdk
to the following values:Groovy
android { compileSdk 34 defaultConfig { minSdk 21 // ... } }
Kotlin
android { compileSdk = 34 defaultConfig { minSdk = 21 // ... } }
- In the
buildFeatures
section of your module-levelbuild.gradle
file, add theBuildConfig
class, which you use to access metadata values defined later in this procedure:Groovy
android { // ... buildFeatures { buildConfig true // ... } }
Kotlin
android { // ... buildFeatures { buildConfig = true // ... } }
Step 3: Add your API key to the project
This section describes how to store your API key so that it can be securely referenced by
your app. You should not check your API key into your version control system, so we recommend
storing it in the secrets.properties
file, which is located in the root directory of your
project. For more information about the secrets.properties
file, see
Gradle properties files.
To streamline this task, we recommend that you use the Secrets Gradle Plugin for Android.
To install the Secrets Gradle Plugin for Android in your Google Maps project:
-
In Android Studio, open your top-level
build.gradle
orbuild.gradle.kts
file and add the following code to thedependencies
element underbuildscript
.Groovy
buildscript { dependencies { classpath "com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin:secrets-gradle-plugin:2.0.1" } }
Kotlin
buildscript { dependencies { classpath("com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin:secrets-gradle-plugin:2.0.1") } }
-
Open your module-level
build.gradle
file and add the following code to theplugins
element.Groovy
plugins { // ... id 'com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin' }
Kotlin
plugins { id("com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin") }
- In your module-level
build.gradle
file, ensure thattargetSdk
andcompileSdk
are set to 34. - Save the file and sync your project with Gradle.
-
Open the
secrets.properties
file in your top-level directory, and then add the following code. ReplaceYOUR_API_KEY
with your API key. Store your key in this file becausesecrets.properties
is excluded from being checked into a version control system.PLACES_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
- Save the file.
-
Create the
local.defaults.properties
file in your top-level directory, the same folder as thesecrets.properties
file, and then add the following code.PLACES_API_KEY=DEFAULT_API_KEY
The purpose of this file is to provide a backup location for the API key if the
secrets.properties
file is not found so that builds don't fail. This can happen if you clone the app from a version control system which omitssecrets.properties
and you have not yet created asecrets.properties
file locally to provide your API key. - Save the file.
-
In Android Studio, open your module-level
build.gradle
orbuild.gradle.kts
file and edit thesecrets
property. If thesecrets
property does not exist, add it.Edit the properties of the plugin to set
propertiesFileName
tosecrets.properties
, setdefaultPropertiesFileName
tolocal.defaults.properties
, and set any other properties.Groovy
secrets { // To add your Maps API key to this project: // 1. If the secrets.properties file does not exist, create it in the same folder as the local.properties file. // 2. Add this line, where YOUR_API_KEY is your API key: // MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY propertiesFileName = "secrets.properties" // A properties file containing default secret values. This file can be // checked in version control. defaultPropertiesFileName = "local.defaults.properties" // Configure which keys should be ignored by the plugin by providing regular expressions. // "sdk.dir" is ignored by default. ignoreList.add("keyToIgnore") // Ignore the key "keyToIgnore" ignoreList.add("sdk.*") // Ignore all keys matching the regexp "sdk.*" }
Kotlin
secrets { // To add your Maps API key to this project: // 1. If the secrets.properties file does not exist, create it in the same folder as the local.properties file. // 2. Add this line, where YOUR_API_KEY is your API key: // MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY propertiesFileName = "secrets.properties" // A properties file containing default secret values. This file can be // checked in version control. defaultPropertiesFileName = "local.defaults.properties" // Configure which keys should be ignored by the plugin by providing regular expressions. // "sdk.dir" is ignored by default. ignoreList.add("keyToIgnore") // Ignore the key "keyToIgnore" ignoreList.add("sdk.*") // Ignore all keys matching the regexp "sdk.*" }
Step 4. Initialize the Places API client
Initialize the Places SDK for Android within an activity or fragment. You must first decide which version of the SDK to use: Places SDK for Android or Places SDK for Android (New). For more information on product versions, see Choose your SDK version.
The following example shows how to initialize the SDK for both versions.Places SDK for Android (New)
Pass the API key when calling
Places.initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()
:
Kotlin
// Define a variable to hold the Places API key. val apiKey = BuildConfig.PLACES_API_KEY // Log an error if apiKey is not set. if (apiKey.isEmpty() || apiKey == "DEFAULT_API_KEY") { Log.e("Places test", "No api key") finish() return } // Initialize the SDK Places.initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled(applicationContext, apiKey) // Create a new PlacesClient instance val placesClient = Places.createClient(this)
Java
// Define a variable to hold the Places API key. String apiKey = BuildConfig.PLACES_API_KEY; // Log an error if apiKey is not set. if (TextUtils.isEmpty(apiKey) || apiKey.equals("DEFAULT_API_KEY")) { Log.e("Places test", "No api key"); finish(); return; } // Initialize the SDK Places.initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled(getApplicationContext(), apiKey); // Create a new PlacesClient instance PlacesClient placesClient = Places.createClient(this);
Places SDK for Android
Pass the API key when calling
Places.initialize()
:
Kotlin
// Define a variable to hold the Places API key. val apiKey = BuildConfig.PLACES_API_KEY // Log an error if apiKey is not set. if (apiKey.isEmpty() || apiKey == "DEFAULT_API_KEY") { Log.e("Places test", "No api key") finish() return } // Initialize the SDK Places.initialize(applicationContext, apiKey) // Create a new PlacesClient instance val placesClient = Places.createClient(this)
Java
// Define a variable to hold the Places API key. String apiKey = BuildConfig.PLACES_API_KEY; // Log an error if apiKey is not set. if (TextUtils.isEmpty(apiKey) || apiKey.equals("DEFAULT_API_KEY")) { Log.e("Places test", "No api key"); finish(); return; } // Initialize the SDK Places.initialize(getApplicationContext(), apiKey); // Create a new PlacesClient instance PlacesClient placesClient = Places.createClient(this);
You are now ready to begin using the Places SDK for Android!
Step 5: Set up an Android device
To run an app that uses the Places SDK for Android, you must deploy it to an Android device or Android emulator that is based on Android 5.0 or higher and includes the Google APIs.
- To use an Android device, follow the instructions at Run apps on a hardware device.
- To use an Android emulator, you can create a virtual device and install the emulator by using the Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager that comes with Android Studio.