Search along route

To use Text Search (New) to search along a route, pass the precalculated route from the Routes API in the request as a polyline. The response contains places that match the search criteria and are also located near the specified route.

To search along a route:

1. Use the Routes API to calculate a route that returns a route's encoded polyline in the response.

   Note: You can also encode your own polyline as described in Encoded Polyline Algorithm Format.

2. Use SearchAlongRouteParameters.setPolyline() to pass the route's encoded polyline to Text Search (New) to bias the search results to the route. The response then contains places that match the search criteria and are also located near the specified route.

By default, Text Search (New) performs the search along the entire route from the origin to the destination as defined by the polyline. In the following example, the polyline defines the route from:

• Origin: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA
• Destination: 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA

The trip's encoded polyline for this route is represented by the string:

wblcFptchVIFOd@G@EVw@Ms@dHKR}ApNA`AF~@Hf@TjAb@bBb@~@n@p@^Rd@~@Vz@HVz@nDLt@?d@Kr@c@~@mD`G?`@aEfGkCnDuChDm`@bb@[`@{GhHeEdEciBnnBkC`DkC~DaClEuKjT_Z|l@Qb@iR~_@}EzJ_AdB_Und@kAfCaOjZkg@vcAqBzD_]rr@iBlEaBxEgArD}AlG}AhHsA`IeAnH{@dIq@dJgL~iBq@rHu@vGgAtHwArHaBhHkBzG_DpJ}Nbc@iBhGkA|EgC|LcIjb@oAhG_AvDgAdDkApC_BzCiBpCsFvGii@vn@scAxlAmLjNgSzUeRjT{TzWqExEmG|FuNlMmMhLaRvPqOlNmbAl}@mFlF{PlOmJfIoElE}LtMiSbU_H`I}}@jcAwl@vp@oAbBqA~BeAhCm@tBg@fCWrBQ~BI|DaB~rBO~D[bEa@`Dm@pDaAdE{@vC_BbEkB~Def@|z@sEzHKJeS~]}K`S{\\~l@cXpe@sBpDm@bAuCxDkBrBiC~BwCtByBnAcBx@}Bt@{Bn@gh@|LaOpDeFhAoDj@aE^kVrA_E^iEr@yD~@uBr@gMjF_EnAcCh@eFr@_DRsAD}@Jsu@xCWDqIV}BCeCOyDm@cBa@_DmA}JeE_CwAsBcBiBoBuAqBmOoX{CuEkB_CoDqDkVoUoD{CeE_DkEkC_FeCqB}@sDuAoDgAeCe@cCW}CK}BDaDTeOlBcuBrYaNlBq@Dyd@rGyFt@yBb@eBf@oCnAoBlAkIpGkAp@wBbAaCt@oFdAwKjBoGxA{FbByIjC_HfB_@KmNdDuC|@uFzBcH|C{@\\[?sBv@}@VaBVoA@y@EmAQcA[w@]aBkAeAkA}BuDUKs@uAqBsCwBcCgAiAiN_MyKsJsG{GkBaBiBuA{BwAwDkBcOaHiC_AiCg@}BQcCAcBHqBVkB`@qEjAu@LgCVgAHwG@sG?mABsH^eNr@mBXy@NqBt@uAt@aBlAkAlA}BtCyApBiAdB_BxB{A`B}@j@oAf@s@PeCVcIf@gAAkAQy@YiAo@_A{@_DgEgJqM_DeEaM}PoBiCzAsBw@kAdAGVk@f@q@z@C

Note: Search along route only supports an encoded polyline, which can be passed as a string and includes compression with minimal lossiness. This is the Routes API default output. For more information, see Request route polylines.

The following example uses the route's encoded polyline to bias the search results:

// Define the route polyline object using the route string.
EncodedPolyline encodedPolyline = EncodedPolyline.newInstance("wblcFptchVIFOd@G@EVw@Ms@dHKR}ApNA`AF~@Hf@TjAb@bBb@~@n@p@^Rd@~@Vz@HVz@nDLt@?d@Kr@c@~@mD`G?`@aEfGkCnDuChDm`@bb@[`@{GhHeEdEciBnnBkC`DkC~DaClEuKjT_Z|l@Qb@iR~_@}EzJ_AdB_Und@kAfCaOjZkg@vcAqBzD_]rr@iBlEaBxEgArD}AlG}AhHsA`IeAnH{@dIq@dJgL~iBq@rHu@vGgAtHwArHaBhHkBzG_DpJ}Nbc@iBhGkA|EgC|LcIjb@oAhG_AvDgAdDkApC_BzCiBpCsFvGii@vn@scAxlAmLjNgSzUeRjT{TzWqExEmG|FuNlMmMhLaRvPqOlNmbAl}@mFlF{PlOmJfIoElE}LtMiSbU_H`I}}@jcAwl@vp@oAbBqA~BeAhCm@tBg@fCWrBQ~BI|DaB~rBO~D[bEa@`Dm@pDaAdE{@vC_BbEkB~Def@|z@sEzHKJeS~]}K`S{\\~l@cXpe@sBpDm@bAuCxDkBrBiC~BwCtByBnAcBx@}Bt@{Bn@gh@|LaOpDeFhAoDj@aE^kVrA_E^iEr@yD~@uBr@gMjF_EnAcCh@eFr@_DRsAD}@Jsu@xCWDqIV}BCeCOyDm@cBa@_DmA}JeE_CwAsBcBiBoBuAqBmOoX{CuEkB_CoDqDkVoUoD{CeE_DkEkC_FeCqB}@sDuAoDgAeCe@cCW}CK}BDaDTeOlBcuBrYaNlBq@Dyd@rGyFt@yBb@eBf@oCnAoBlAkIpGkAp@wBbAaCt@oFdAwKjBoGxA{FbByIjC_HfB_@KmNdDuC|@uFzBcH|C{@\\[?sBv@}@VaBVoA@y@EmAQcA[w@]aBkAeAkA}BuDUKs@uAqBsCwBcCgAiAiN_MyKsJsG{GkBaBiBuA{BwAwDkBcOaHiC_AiCg@}BQcCAcBHqBVkB`@qEjAu@LgCVgAHwG@sG?mABsH^eNr@mBXy@NqBt@uAt@aBlAkAlA}BtCyApBiAdB_BxB{A`B}@j@oAf@s@PeCVcIf@gAAkAQy@YiAo@_A{@_DgEgJqM_DeEaM}PoBiCzAsBw@kAdAGVk@f@q@z@C");

// Specify the list of fields to return.
final List<Place.Field> placeFields = Arrays.asList(Place.Field.ID, Place.Field.NAME);

// Define the search along route parameters object and pass the polyline object.
SearchAlongRouteParameters searchAlongRouteParameters = SearchAlongRouteParameters.builder()
  .setPolyline(encodedPolyline)
  .build();

// Use the builder to create a SearchByTextRequest object and pass the search along route parameters.
final SearchByTextRequest searchByTextRequest = SearchByTextRequest.builder("Spicy Vegetarian Food", placeFields)
  .setMaxResultCount(10)
  .setSearchAlongRouteParameters(searchAlongRouteParameters)
  .build();

// Call PlacesClient.searchByText() to perform the search.
// Define a response handler to process the returned List of Place objects.
placesClient.searchByText(searchByTextRequest)   
  .addOnSuccessListener(response -> {
      List<Place> places = response.getPlaces();
  });

The SearchByTextResponse class represents the response from a search request. A SearchByTextResponse object contains:

• A list of Place objects that represent all matching places, with one Place object per matching place.
• Each Place object only contains the fields defined by the field list passed in the request.

You don't have to bias the results to the entire route. For example, you might already be halfway along the route before you perform the search. In this case, you can specify an explicit routing origin to the search to override the origin defined in the encoded polyline. In the following example, you specify the latitude and longitude coordinates of San Mateo, CA, which is approximately halfway along the route polyline:

// Define the route polyline object using the route string.
EncodedPolyline encodedPolyline = EncodedPolyline.newInstance("wblcFptchVIFOd@G@EVw@Ms@dHKR}ApNA`AF~@Hf@TjAb@bBb@~@n@p@^Rd@~@Vz@HVz@nDLt@?d@Kr@c@~@mD`G?`@aEfGkCnDuChDm`@bb@[`@{GhHeEdEciBnnBkC`DkC~DaClEuKjT_Z|l@Qb@iR~_@}EzJ_AdB_Und@kAfCaOjZkg@vcAqBzD_]rr@iBlEaBxEgArD}AlG}AhHsA`IeAnH{@dIq@dJgL~iBq@rHu@vGgAtHwArHaBhHkBzG_DpJ}Nbc@iBhGkA|EgC|LcIjb@oAhG_AvDgAdDkApC_BzCiBpCsFvGii@vn@scAxlAmLjNgSzUeRjT{TzWqExEmG|FuNlMmMhLaRvPqOlNmbAl}@mFlF{PlOmJfIoElE}LtMiSbU_H`I}}@jcAwl@vp@oAbBqA~BeAhCm@tBg@fCWrBQ~BI|DaB~rBO~D[bEa@`Dm@pDaAdE{@vC_BbEkB~Def@|z@sEzHKJeS~]}K`S{\\~l@cXpe@sBpDm@bAuCxDkBrBiC~BwCtByBnAcBx@}Bt@{Bn@gh@|LaOpDeFhAoDj@aE^kVrA_E^iEr@yD~@uBr@gMjF_EnAcCh@eFr@_DRsAD}@Jsu@xCWDqIV}BCeCOyDm@cBa@_DmA}JeE_CwAsBcBiBoBuAqBmOoX{CuEkB_CoDqDkVoUoD{CeE_DkEkC_FeCqB}@sDuAoDgAeCe@cCW}CK}BDaDTeOlBcuBrYaNlBq@Dyd@rGyFt@yBb@eBf@oCnAoBlAkIpGkAp@wBbAaCt@oFdAwKjBoGxA{FbByIjC_HfB_@KmNdDuC|@uFzBcH|C{@\\[?sBv@}@VaBVoA@y@EmAQcA[w@]aBkAeAkA}BuDUKs@uAqBsCwBcCgAiAiN_MyKsJsG{GkBaBiBuA{BwAwDkBcOaHiC_AiCg@}BQcCAcBHqBVkB`@qEjAu@LgCVgAHwG@sG?mABsH^eNr@mBXy@NqBt@uAt@aBlAkAlA}BtCyApBiAdB_BxB{A`B}@j@oAf@s@PeCVcIf@gAAkAQy@YiAo@_A{@_DgEgJqM_DeEaM}PoBiCzAsBw@kAdAGVk@f@q@z@C");

// Specify the list of fields to return.
final List<Place.Field> placeFields = Arrays.asList(Place.Field.ID, Place.Field.NAME);

// Define the routing parameters object and pass the routing origin.
RoutingParameters routingParameters = RoutingParameters.builder()
  .setOrigin(toLatLng("37.56617, -122.30870"))
  .build();

// Define the search along route parameters object and pass the polyline object.
SearchAlongRouteParameters searchAlongRouteParameters = SearchAlongRouteParameters.builder()
  .setPolyline(encodedPolyline)
  .build();

// Use the builder to create a SearchByTextRequest object and pass the search along route and routing parameters.
final SearchByTextRequest searchByTextRequest = SearchByTextRequest.builder("Spicy Vegetarian Food", placeFields)
  .setMaxResultCount(10)
  .setRoutingParameters(routingParameters)
  .setSearchAlongRouteParameters(searchAlongRouteParameters)
  .build();

// Call PlacesClient.searchByText() to perform the search.
// Define a response handler to process the returned List of Place objects.
placesClient.searchByText(searchByTextRequest)   
  .addOnSuccessListener(response -> {
      List<Place> places = response.getPlaces();
  });

Note: Because search along route returns places with minimal detour times from origin to destination, in cases where the route origin and destination are the same or close to one another, search along route may not return any results.