Code Samples Overview

The SDK demo app supplied with the Maps SDK for iOS includes samples for the feature highlights of the SDK. In addition, you can find code snippets on each page of this developer's guide.

Try the SDK demos using CocoaPods

The Maps SDK for iOS is available as a CocoaPods pod. CocoaPods is an open source dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects.

The Maps SDK for iOS supplies an SDK demo app that you can install and run using the pod try GoogleMaps command. Follow these steps to install CocoaPods and try the Maps SDK for iOS.

  1. If you don't already have the CocoaPods tool, install it on macOS by running the following command from the terminal. For details, see the CocoaPods Getting Started guide. 
    sudo gem install cocoapods
  2. Get the sample files using one of these two methods:

    Use files from GitHub

    1. Download the code sample archive from GitHub and unpack the archive.
    2. Open a terminal window, navigate to the directory where you expanded the sample files, and drill down into the GoogleMaps directory:

      Swift

      cd maps-sdk-for-ios-samples-master/GoogleMaps-Swift

      Objective-C

      cd maps-sdk-for-ios-samples-master/GoogleMaps
    3. Run the following commands:
      pod install
    open GoogleMapsDemos.xcworkspace

    Use CocoaPods v1.6.1

    1. Open a terminal window and install version 1.6.1: 
      sudo gem install cocoapods -v1.6.1
    2. Fetch the Google Maps files using Cocoapods: 
      pod try GoogleMaps

      Choose either Swift or Objective-C when prompted. CocoaPods updates your spec repositories, then opens the demo in a temporary Xcode project named SwiftDemoApp.xcodeproj or ObjCDemoApp.xcodeproj.

  3. 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 SDKConstants.swift file for Swift orSDKDemoAPIKey.h file for Objective-C.
  4. If you don't yet have an API key, follow the instructions to set up a project on the Google Cloud Console and get an API key. When configuring the key on the Google 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.
  5. Edit the SDKConstants.swift file for Swift orSDKDemoAPIKey.h file for Objective-C and paste your API key into the definition of either the apiKey or kAPIKey constant. For example:

    Swift

    static let apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY"

    Objective-C

    static NSString *const kAPIKey = @"YOUR_API_KEY";
  6. Remove the following line, because it's used to register the user-defined issue:

    Swift

    #error (Register for API Key and insert here. Then delete this line.”)

    Objective-C

    #error Register for API Key and insert here.
  7. Build and run the project. The iOS simulator window appears, showing a list of Maps SDK Demos.
  8. Choose one of the options displayed, to experiment with a feature of the Maps SDK for iOS.
  9. If prompted to allow GoogleMapsDemos to access your location, choose Allow.

Use code snippets from the developer's guide

Each page in the developer's guide includes code snippets illustrating a particular feature of the API. For example, see the guides for map objects, markers, shapes, and other pages in this guide.