Nearby Search (New)

Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript Web Service

A Nearby Search (New) request takes as input the region to search specified as a circle, defined by the latitude and longitude coordinates of the center point of the circle and the radius in meters. The request returns a list of matching places, each represented by a GMSPlace object, within the specified search area.

By default, the response contains places of all types within the search area. You can optionally filter the response by specifying a list of place types to explicitly include in or exclude from the response. For example, you can specify to include only those places in the response that are of type "restaurant", "bakery", and "cafe", or exclude all places of type "school".

Nearby Search (New) requests

Make a Nearby Search request by calling GMSPlacesClient searchNearbyWithRequest:, passing a GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest object that defines the request parameters and a callback method, of type GMSPlaceSearchNearbyResultCallback, to handle the response.

The GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest object specifies all of the required and optional parameters for the request. The required parameters include:

  • The list of fields to return in the GMSPlace object, also called the field mask, as defined by GMSPlaceProperty. If you don't specify at least one field in the field list, or if you omit the field list, then the call returns an error.
  • The location restriction, meaning the circle defining the search area.

This example nearby search request specifies that the response GMSPlace objects contain the place name (GMSPlacePropertyName) and place coordinates (GMSPlacePropertyCoordinate) for each GMSPlace object in the search results. It also filters the response to only return places of type "restaurant" and "cafe".

Swift

// Array to hold the places in the response
var placeResults: [GMSPlace] = []

// Define the search area as a 500 meter diameter circle in San Francisco, CA.
let circularLocationRestriction = GMSPlaceCircularLocationOption(CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(37.7937, -122.3965), 500)

// Specify the fields to return in the GMSPlace object for each place in the response.
let placeProperties = [GMSPlaceProperty.name, GMSPlaceProperty.coordinate].map {$0.rawValue}

// Create the GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest, specifying the search area and GMSPlace fields to return.
var request = GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest(locationRestriction: circularLocationRestriction, placeProperties: placeProperties)
let includedTypes = ["restaurant", "cafe"]
request.includedTypes = includedTypes

let callback: GMSPlaceSearchNearbyResultCallback = { [weak self] results, error in
  guard let self, error == nil else {
    if let error {
      print(error.localizedDescription)
    }
    return
  }
  guard let results = results as? [GMSPlace] else {
    return
  }
  placeResults = results
}

GMSPlacesClient.shared().searchNearby(with: request, callback: callback)

Objective-C

// Array to hold the places in the response
_placeResults = [NSArray array];

// Define the search area as a 500 meter diameter circle in San Francisco, CA.
id<GMSPlaceLocationRestriction> circularLocation = GMSPlaceCircularLocationOption(CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(37.7937, -122.3965), 500);

// Create the GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest, specifying the search area and GMSPlace fields to return.
GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest *request = [[GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest alloc]
  initWithLocationRestriction:circularLocation
              placeProperties:@[ GMSPlacePropertyName, GMSPlacePropertyCoordinate ]];

// Set the place types to filter on.
NSArray<NSString *> *includedTypes = @[ @"restaurant", @"cafe" ];
request.includedTypes = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray:includedTypes];

[_placesClient searchNearbyWithRequest:request
  callback:^(NSArray<GMSPlace *> *_Nullable places, NSError *_Nullable error) {
    if (error != nil) {
      NSLog(@"An error occurred %@", [error localizedDescription]);
      return;
    } else {
        // Get list of places.
        _placeResults = places;
    }
  }
];

Places Swift SDK for iOS (Preview)

let restriction = CircularCoordinateRegion(center: CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(37.7937, -122.3965), radius: 500)
let searchNearbyRequest = SearchNearbyRequest(
  locationRestriction: restriction,
  placeProperties: [ .name, .coordinate],
  includedTypes: [ .restaurant, .cafe ],
)
switch await placesClient.searchNearby(with: searchNearbyRequest) {
case .success(let places):
  // Handle places
case .failure(let placesError):
  // Handle error
}

Nearby Search responses

The Nearby Search API returns an array of matches in the form of GMSPlace objects, with one GMSPlace object per matching place.

Get open status

The GMSPlacesClient object contains a member function called isOpenWithRequest (isOpenRequest in Swift and isPlaceOpenRequest in GooglePlacesSwift) that returns a response indicating whether the place is currently open, based on the time specified in the call.

This method takes a single argument of type GMSPlaceIsOpenWithRequest that contains:

  • A GMSPlace object, or a string specifying a place ID. For more information on creating the Place object with the necessary fields, see Place details.
  • An optional NSDate (Obj-C) or Date (Swift) object specifying the time you would like to check. If no time is specified, the default is now.
  • A GMSPlaceOpenStatusResponseCallback method to handle the response.
    • >

The GMSPlaceIsOpenWithRequest method requires the following fields to be set in the GMSPlace object:

  • GMSPlacePropertyUTCOffsetMinutes
  • GMSPlacePropertyBusinessStatus
  • GMSPlacePropertyOpeningHours
  • GMSPlacePropertyCurrentOpeningHours
  • GMSPlacePropertySecondaryOpeningHours

If these fields are not provided in the Place object, or if you pass a place ID, the method uses GMSPlacesClient GMSFetchPlaceRequest: to fetch them.

isOpenWithRequest response

isOpenWithRequest returns a GMSPlaceIsOpenResponse object containing a boolean value named status that indicates whether the business is open, closed, or if the status is unknown.

Language Value if open Value if closed Value if status unknown
Swift .open .closed .unknown
Objective-C GMSPlaceOpenStatusOpen GMSPlaceOpenStatusClosed GMSPlaceOpenStatusUnknown
GooglePlacesSwift (Preview) true false nil

Billing for isOpenWithRequest

  • The GMSPlacePropertyUTCOffsetMinutes and GMSPlacePropertyBusinessStatus fields are charged under the Basic Data SKU. The rest of the Opening Hours are charged under the Place Details (Advanced) SKU.
  • If your GMSPlace object already has these fields from a previous request, you won't be charged again.

Example: Make a GMSPlaceIsOpenWithRequest request

The following example shows how to initialize a GMSPlaceIsOpenWithRequest within an existing GMSPlace object.

Swift

    let isOpenRequest = GMSPlaceIsOpenRequest(place: place, date: nil)
      GMSPlacesClient.shared().isOpen(with: isOpenRequest) { response, error in
        if let error = error {
          // Handle Error
        }
        switch response.status {
          case .open:
            // Handle open
          case .closed:
            // Handle closed
          case .unknown:
            // Handle unknown
        }
      }

Objective-C

          GMSPlaceIsOpenRequest *isOpenRequest = [[GMSPlaceIsOpenRequest alloc] initWithPlace:place date:nil];
  
          [[GMSPlacesClient sharedClient] isOpenWithRequest:isOpenRequest callback:^(GMSPlaceIsOpenResponse response, NSError *_Nullable error) {
            if (error) {
              // Handle error
            }
  
            switch (response.status) {
              case GMSPlaceOpenStatusOpen:
                // Handle open
              case GMSPlaceOpenStatusClosed:
                // Handle closed
              case GMSPlaceOpenStatusUnknown:
                // Handle unknown
            }
          }];

GooglePlacesSwift

          let isOpenRequest = IsPlaceOpenRequest(place: place)
          switch await placesClient.isPlaceOpen(with: isOpenRequest) {
            case .success(let isOpenResponse):
              switch isOpenResponse.status {
                case true:
                  // Handle open
                case false:
                  // Handle closed
                case nil:
                  // Handle unknown
            case .failure(let placesError):
              // Handle error
          }

Required parameters

Use the GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest object to specify the required parameters for the search.

  • Field list

    When you request place details, you must specify the data to return in the GMSPlace object for the place as a field mask. To define the field mask, pass an array of values from GMSPlaceProperty to the GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest object. Field masking is a good design practice to ensure that you don't request unnecessary data, which helps to avoid unnecessary processing time and billing charges.

    Specify one or more of the following fields:

    • The following fields trigger the Nearby Search (Basic) SKU:

      GMSPlacePropertyAddressComponents, GMSPlacePropertyBusinessStatus, GMSPlacePropertyCoordinate, GMSPlacePropertyFormattedAddress, GMSPlacePropertyName, GMSPlacePropertyIconBackgroundColor, GMSPlacePropertyIconImageURL, GMSPlacePropertyPhotos, GMSPlacePropertyPlaceID, GMSPlacePropertyPlusCode, GMSPlacePropertyTypes, GMSPlacePropertyUTCOffsetMinutes, GMSPlacePropertyViewport, GMSPlacePropertyWheelchairAccessibleEntrance

    • The following fields trigger the Nearby Search (Advanced) SKU:

      GMSPlacePropertyCurrentOpeningHours, GMSPlacePropertySecondaryOpeningHours, GMSPlacePropertyPhoneNumber, GMSPlacePropertyPriceLevel, GMSPlacePropertyRating, GMSPlacePropertyOpeningHours, GMSPlacePropertyUserRatingsTotal, GMSPlacePropertyWebsite

    • The following fields trigger the Nearby Search (Preferred) SKU:

      GMSPlacePropertyCurbsidePickup, GMSPlacePropertyDelivery, GMSPlacePropertyDineIn, GMSPlacePropertyEditorialSummary, GMSPlacePropertyReservable, GMSPlacePropertyReviews, GMSPlacePropertyServesBeer, GMSPlacePropertyServesBreakfast, GMSPlacePropertyServesBrunch, GMSPlacePropertyServesDinner, GMSPlacePropertyServesLunch, GMSPlacePropertyServesVegetarianFood, GMSPlacePropertyServesWine, GMSPlacePropertyTakeout

    The following example passes a list of two field values to specify that the GMSPlace object returned by a request contains the name and placeID fields:

    Swift

    // Specify the place data types to return.
let fields: [GMSPlaceProperty] = [.placeID, .name]

    Objective-C

    // Specify the place data types to return.
NSArray<GMSPlaceProperty *> *fields = @[GMSPlacePropertyPlaceID, GMSPlacePropertyName];

    Places Swift SDK for iOS (Preview)

    // Specify the place data types to return.
let fields: [PlaceProperty] = [.placeID, .displayName]

  • locationRestriction

    A GMSPlaceLocationRestriction object that defines the region to search specified as a circle, defined by center point and radius in meters. The radius must be between 0.0 and 50000.0, inclusive. The default radius is 0.0. You must set it in your request to a value greater than 0.0.

Optional parameters

Use the GMSPlaceSearchNearbyRequest object to specify the optional parameters for the search.

  • includedTypes/excludedTypes, includedPrimaryTypes/excludedPrimaryTypes

    Lets you specify a list of types from types Table A used to filter the search results. Up to 50 types can be specified in each type restriction category.

    A place can only have a single primary type from types Table A associated with it. For example, the primary type might be "mexican_restaurant" or "steak_house". Use includedPrimaryTypes and excludedPrimaryTypes to filter the results on a place's primary type.

    A place can also have multiple type values from types Table A associated with it. For example a restaurant might have the following types: "seafood_restaurant", "restaurant", "food", "point_of_interest", "establishment". Use includedTypes and excludedTypes to filter the results on the list of types associated with a place.

    When you specify a general primary type, such as "restaurant" or "hotel", the response can contain places with a more specific primary type than the one specified. For example, you specify to include a primary type of "restaurant". The response can then contain places with a primary type of "restaurant", but the response can also contain places with a more specific primary type, such as "chinese_restaurant" or "seafood_restaurant".

    If a search is specified with multiple type restrictions, only places that satisfy all of the restrictions are returned. For example, if you specify {"includedTypes": ["restaurant"], "excludedPrimaryTypes": ["steak_house"]}, the returned places provide "restaurant" related services but don't operate primarily as a "steak_house".

    includedTypes

    A list of the place types from Table A to search for. If this parameter is omitted, places of all types are returned.

    excludedTypes

    A list of place types from Table A to exclude from a search.

    If you specify both the includedTypes (such as "school") and the excludedTypes (such as "primary_school") in the request, then the response includes places that are categorized as "school" but not as "primary_school". The response includes places that match at least one of the includedTypes and none of the excludedTypes.

    If there are any conflicting types, such as a type appearing in both includedTypes and excludedTypes, an INVALID_REQUEST error is returned.

    includedPrimaryTypes

    A list of primary place types from Table A to include in a search.

    excludedPrimaryTypes

    A list of primary place types from Table A to exclude from a search.

    If there are any conflicting primary types, such as a type appearing in both includedPrimaryTypes and excludedPrimaryTypes, an INVALID_ARGUMENT error is returned.

  • maxResultCount

    Specifies the maximum number of place results to return. Must be between 1 and 20 (default) inclusive.

  • rankPreference

    The type of ranking to use. If this parameter is omitted, results are ranked by popularity. May be one of the following:

    • .popularity (default) Sorts results based on their popularity.
    • .distance Sorts results in ascending order by their distance from the specified location.

  • regionCode

    The region code used to format the response, specified as a two-character CLDR code value. There is no default value.

    If the country name of the formattedAddress field in the response matches the regionCode, the country code is omitted from formattedAddress. This parameter has no effect on adrFormatAddress, which always includes the country name, or on shortFormattedAddress, which never includes it.

    Most CLDR codes are identical to ISO 3166-1 codes, with some notable exceptions. For example, the United Kingdom's ccTLD is "uk" (.co.uk) while its ISO 3166-1 code is "gb" (technically for the entity of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"). The parameter can affect results based on applicable law.

Display attributions in your app

When your app displays information obtained from GMSPlacesClient, such as photos and reviews, the app must also display the required attributions.

For example, the reviews property of the GMSPlacesClient object contains an array of up to five GMSPlaceReview objects. Each GMSPlaceReview object can contain attributions and author attributions. If you display the review in your app, then you must also display any attribution or author attribution.

For more information, see the documentation on attributions.