Cloud-based maps styling

Google Maps Platform offers cloud-based maps styling features that make it easy to style, customize, and manage your maps using the Google Cloud Console, letting you create a customized map experience for your users without having to update your apps' code each time you make a style change.

Styles created before September 15, 2020 don't display Google Maps enhanced natural features. To use Google Maps enhanced natural features support for your map styling, you must create a map Style.

cloud-based maps styling lets you create and edit map styles for any of your apps that use Google Maps, without requiring any changes to your code once the map ID is in place. All style changes can be done in the Cloud Console, with no coding skills required. Change the appearance and color of many map elements such as roads, buildings, bodies of water, points of interest, and transit routes.

These features include:

• Cloud-based map styling: Rather than styling your map in code using JSON, manage and style your dynamic or static maps in the Cloud Console using map IDs and map styles.
• Business POI filtering: Five categories of business points of interest can be optionally removed from the map display.
• POI Density Control: The density of points of interest shown on the basemap can be adjusted to show greater or fewer points of interest by default.

While cloud-based maps styling is available on Maps SDK for Android¹, Maps SDK for iOS, JavaScript, and Maps Static API, not all features are visible on all platforms.

Before you begin

• Create a map ID
  To use Cloud-based maps styling, your map must be loaded using a map ID.
• Update from hard-coded styling Before adding a map ID to use cloud-based maps styling on an existing map that is customized with hard-coded styling, such as JSON or URL query parameters, remove the hard-coded styling to avoid a potential conflict with future features. You can import your JSON styling into a new map style.
  • On Android, update the MapStyleOptions
  • On iOS, update the GMSMapStyle class
  • On JavaScript, remove the MapTypeStyle styling
  • On Maps Static, remove the style parameter

Billing

Using cloud-based maps styling requires a map ID. On Maps SDK for Android, Maps SDK for iOS, and JavaScript, using a map ID incurs a charge against the Dynamic Maps SKU. On the Maps Static API, using a map ID incurs a charge against the Static Maps SKU.

Examples

Run the ApiDemos sample app

To run the ApiDemos sample app, see the GitHub sample Google Map sample app and view the CloudBasedMapStylingViewController project (GitHub sample for Swift | Objective-C).

Optional Cloud Styling CocoaPod or GitHub demo

Instead of starting from scratch, you can try out our Objective-C sample application that demonstrates how to style your iOS map from the cloud here.

Build the Beta demo app

In Xcode, press the compile button to build and then run the current scheme. The build produces an error, prompting you to enter your API key in the SDKDemoAPIKey.h file.

If you don't yet have an API key, follow these instructions to set up a project on the Cloud Console and get an API key. When configuring the key on the Cloud Console, you can specify your app's bundle identifier to ensure that only your app can use the key. The default bundle identifier of the SDK samples app is com.example.GoogleMapsDemos.

Edit the SDKDemoAPIKey.h file and paste your API key into the definition of the kAPIKey constant:

```
static NSString *const kAPIKey = @"YOUR_API_KEY";
```

If Xcode prompts you to unlock the SDKDemoAPIKey.h file for editing, choose Unlock.

Remove the following line:

```
#error Register for API Key and insert here.
```

Build and run the project.

cloud-based maps styling map demo

The CloudStyling demo shows how to style the map by using a style set on Google Cloud Console.

When the demo application launches, click on the Map Customization demo in the Beta Samples section at the top of the list.

Click on Style Map to see the effect of loading different Map IDs.

You can try adding your own style as well ("Style Map" > "Add a new Map ID"), and see the map update with your custom styled map.