Maps SDK for Android Quickstart

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Create an Android app that displays a map by using the Google Maps Views template for Android Studio. If you have an existing Android Studio project that you'd like to set up, see Set up an Android Studio project.

This quickstart is intended for developers who are familiar with basic Android development with Kotlin or Java.

About the development environment

This quickstart was developed using Android Studio Hedgehog and the Android Gradle plugin version 8.2.

Set up an Android device

To run an app that uses the Maps 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.

Create a Google Maps project in Android Studio

The procedure to create a Google Maps project in Android Studio was changed in the Flamingo and later releases of Android Studio.

1. Open Android Studio, and click New Project in the Welcome to Android Studio window.

2. In the New Project window, under the Phone and Tablet category, select No Activity, and then click Next.

3. Complete the New Project form:

   • Set Language to Java or Kotlin. Both languages are fully supported by the Maps SDK for Android. To learn more about Kotlin, see Develop Android apps with Kotlin.

   • Set Minimum SDK to an SDK version compatible with your test device. You must select a version greater than the minimum version required by the Maps SDK for Android version 19.0.x, which is Android API Level 21 ("Lollipop"; Android 5.0) or higher. See the Release Notes for the latest information on the SDK version requirements.

   • Set the Build configuration language to Kotlin DSL or Groovy DSL. Snippets for both build configurations languages are shown in the following procedures.

4. Click Finish.

   Android Studio starts Gradle and builds the project. This may take some time.

5. Add the Google Maps Views Activity:

   1. Right-click on the app folder in your project.

   2. Select New > Google > Google Maps Views Activity.

      

   3. In the New Android Activity dialog box, select the Launcher Activity checkbox.

   4. Select Finish.

      For more information, see Add code from a template

6. When the build is finished, Android Studio opens the AndroidManifest.xml and MapsActivity files. Your activity may have a different name, but it is the one you configured during setup.

Set up your Google Cloud project

Complete the required Cloud console setup steps by clicking through the following tabs:

gcloud projects create "PROJECT"

gcloud services enable \
    --project "PROJECT" \
    "maps-android-backend.googleapis.com"

gcloud services api-keys create \
    --project "PROJECT" \
    --display-name "DISPLAY_NAME"

Add the API key to your app

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:

1. In Android Studio, open your top-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and add the following code to the dependencies element under buildscript.

   Kotlin

   buildscript {
       dependencies {
           classpath("com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin:secrets-gradle-plugin:2.0.1")
       }
   }

   Groovy

   buildscript {
       dependencies {
           classpath "com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin:secrets-gradle-plugin:2.0.1"
       }
   }

2. Open your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and add the following code to the plugins element.

   Kotlin

   plugins {
       // ...
       id("com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin")
   }

   Groovy

   plugins {
       // ...
       id 'com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin'
   }

3. In your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file, ensure that targetSdk and compileSdk are set to 34.
4. Sync your project with Gradle.
5. Open the secrets.properties file in your top-level directory, and then add the following code. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your API key. Store your key in this file because secrets.properties is excluded from being checked into a version control system.

   MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

6. Create the local.defaults.properties file in your top-level directory, the same folder as the secrets.properties file, and then add the following code.

   MAPS_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 omits secrets.properties and you have not yet created a secrets.properties file locally to provide your API key.

7. In your AndroidManifest.xml file, go to com.google.android.geo.API_KEY and update the android:value attribute. If the <meta-data> tag does not exist, create it as a child of the <application> tag.

   <meta-data
       android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
       android:value="${MAPS_API_KEY}" />

   Note: com.google.android.geo.API_KEY is the recommended metadata name for the API key. A key with this name can be used to authenticate to multiple Google Maps-based APIs on the Android platform, including the Maps SDK for Android. For backwards compatibility, the API also supports the name com.google.android.maps.v2.API_KEY. This legacy name allows authentication to the Android Maps API v2 only. An application can specify only one of the API key metadata names. If both are specified, the API throws an exception.

8. In Android Studio, open your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and edit the secrets property. If the secrets property does not exist, add it.

   Edit the properties of the plugin to set propertiesFileName to secrets.properties, set defaultPropertiesFileName to local.defaults.properties, and set any other properties.

   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"
   }
           

   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"
   }
           

Look at the code

Examine the code supplied by the template. In particular, look at the following files in your Android Studio project.

Maps activity file

The maps activity file is the main activity for the app, and contains the code to manage and display the map. By default, the file that defines the activity is named MapsActivity.java or if you set Kotlin as the language for your app, MapsActivity.kt.

The main elements of the maps activity:

• The SupportMapFragment object manages the lifecycle of the map and is the parent element of the app's UI.

• The GoogleMap object provides access to the map data and view. This is the main class of the Maps SDK for Android. The Map Objects guide describes the SupportMapFragment and GoogleMap objects in more detail.

• The moveCamera function centers the map at the LatLng coordinates for Sydney Australia. The first settings to configure when adding a map are usually the map location and camera settings; such as viewing angle, map orientation, and zoom level. See the Camera and View guide for details.

• The addMarker function adds a marker to the coordinates for Sydney. See the Markers guide for details.

Module Gradle file

The Module build.gradle.kts file includes the following maps dependency, which is required by the Maps SDK for Android.

dependencies {

    // Maps SDK for Android
    implementation("com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:19.0.0")
}

To learn more about managing the Maps dependency, see Versioning.

XML layout file

The activity_maps.xml file is the XML layout file that defines the structure of the app's UI. The file is located in the res/layout directory. The activity_maps.xml file declares a fragment that includes the following elements:

• tools:context sets the default activity of the fragment to MapsActivity, which is defined in the maps activity file.
• android:name sets the class name of the fragment to SupportMapFragment, which is the fragment type used in the maps activity file.

The XML layout file contains the following code:

<fragment xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:map="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/map"
    android:name="com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MapsActivity" />

Deploy and run the app

When you run the app successfully, it will display a map that is centered on Sydney Australia with a marker on the city as seen in the following screenshot.

To deploy and run the app:

1. In Android Studio, click the Run menu option (or the play button icon) to run your app.
2. When prompted to choose a device, choose one of the following options:
   • Select the Android device that's connected to your computer.
   • Alternatively, select the Launch emulator radio button and choose the virtual device that you set up.
3. Click OK. Android Studio will start Gradle to build your app, and then display the results on your device or emulator. It can take several minutes before the app launches.

Next steps

• Set up a map: This document describes how to set up the initial and runtime settings for your map, such as the camera position, map type, UI components, and gestures.

• Add a map to your Android app (Kotlin): This codelab walks you through an app that demonstrates some additional features of the Maps SDK for Android.

• Use the Maps Android KTX library: This Kotlin extensions (KTX) library lets you take advantage of several Kotlin language features while using the Maps SDK for Android.