Maps SDK for Android release notes

Release 20.1.0

The Maps SDK for Android version 20.1.0 is now available. See the Release Notes for information about this release and for all previous releases.

If you are a new user, see Set Up in the Google Cloud Console to start the installation process.

If you are an existing customer, see the upgrade instructions at Versions.

The default map color scheme is now MapColorScheme.FOLLOW_SYSTEM. Maps of type normal and terrain now automatically use a light or dark color scheme based on the device's system setting, unless you set a different color scheme using GoogleMapOptions.mapColorScheme or GoogleMap.setMapColorScheme. To keep the previous behavior, explicitly set the color scheme to MapColorScheme.LIGHT. For more information, see Map color scheme.

The Maps SDK for Android now supports Cloud-based maps styling. For more information, see the Cloud-based maps styling release notes.

Known Issue: StrictMode IncorrectContextUseViolation on Android 12+

Developers testing their applications on Android 12 (API level 31) and higher might encounter an android.os.strictmode.IncorrectContextUseViolation when StrictMode is enabled with detectIncorrectContextUse. This occurs because several internal UI components within the Maps SDK for Android's dynamite module (com.google.maps.api.android.lib6) are currently being instantiated using the Application Context instead of a proper UI Context.

This issue affects applications directly using the Maps SDK for Android as well as those using the android-maps-compose wrapper. The violation is internal to the Maps SDK for Android and isn't caused by client applications passing an incorrect context.

To prevent this violation from crashing your application during development and testing, we recommend temporarily modifying your StrictMode configuration. You can bypass the crash by either removing detectIncorrectContextUse from your StrictMode.VmPolicy or by setting the penalty to penaltyLog instead of penaltyDeath. Alternatively, you can use a penaltyListener to selectively suppress crashes caused by the Maps SDK while maintaining strict behavior for your own code:

val vmPolicyBuilder = StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder()
    .detectAll()
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
    vmPolicyBuilder.detectIncorrectContextUse()
}
// Intercept violations and ignore those caused by the Google Maps SDK
vmPolicyBuilder.penaltyListener(Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor()) { violation ->
    val stackTrace = violation.stackTraceToString()
    val isGoogleMapsSDK = stackTrace.contains("com.google.android.gms.dynamite_mapsdynamite") ||
                          stackTrace.contains("com.google.maps.api.android.lib6") ||
                          stackTrace.contains("com.google.android.gms.maps")
    if (!isGoogleMapsSDK) {
        // Log or crash for your own app's violations
        Log.e("StrictMode", "Violation detected:", violation)
        // throw violation // Uncomment if you want penaltyDeath behavior for your own code
    } else {
        Log.w("StrictMode", "Ignored known Google Maps SDK IncorrectContextUseViolation.")
    }
}
StrictMode.setVmPolicy(vmPolicyBuilder.build())

The engineering team has identified the root cause and a fix will be provided in a future release of the Maps SDK for Android.

Release 20.0.0

The Maps SDK for Android version 20.0.0 is now available. See the Release Notes for information about this release and for all previous releases.

If you are a new user, see Set Up in the Google Cloud Console to start the installation process.

If you are an existing customer, see the upgrade instructions at Versions.

The Maps SDK now supports Transit layers. You can display the public transit network of a city on your map using the setTransitEnabled() method. For more information, see Set up the transit layer.

This release removed the deprecated org.apache.http.legacy library from the SDK's AndroidManifest.xml. In applications that load the legacy map renderer, this deprecation will introduce a regression causing java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError crashes.

In order to resolve this issue and ensure that the necessary legacy Apache HTTP library is available to your application, you must add the following line within the <application> tag of your own app's AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-library android:name="org.apache.http.legacy" android:required="false" />

Release 19.2.0

The Maps SDK for Android version 19.2.0 is now available. See the Release Notes for information about this release and for all previous releases.

If you are a new user, see Set Up in the Google Cloud Console to start the installation process.

If you are an existing customer, see the upgrade instructions at Versions.

As of this release, crosswalks, sidewalks, and road lane markings may be visible on the map in certain metropolitan areas worldwide. Lane markings may not be visible on all roads even in areas where they are supported. The areas where these elements are visible may vary over time. When visible, crosswalks and sidewalk elements can be styled using Cloud-based map styling.