Enable the My Location Button

  • The "My Location" button, located in the bottom right corner of the map, centers the map on the user's current location when tapped.

  • The provided code samples (Swift and Objective-C) demonstrate how to implement the "My Location" functionality within a map view.

  • To run the sample code, you'll need to configure your development environment, including obtaining and integrating a Google Maps API key.

  • The full sample app can be downloaded and explored to experiment with various features of the Maps SDK for iOS.

Image of Enable the My Location Button.

The My Location button is displayed in the bottom right corner of the map view. When the user taps the button, the map pans to the user's current location.

Get started

Before you can try the sample code, you must configure your development environment. For more information, see Maps SDK for iOS code samples.

View the code

Swift

import GoogleMaps
import UIKit

class MyLocationViewController: UIViewController {

  private let cameraLatitude: CLLocationDegrees = -33.868

  private let cameraLongitude: CLLocationDegrees = 151.2086

  private let cameraZoom: Float = 12

  lazy var mapView: GMSMapView = {
    let camera = GMSCameraPosition(
      latitude: cameraLatitude, longitude: cameraLongitude, zoom: cameraZoom)
    return GMSMapView(frame: .zero, camera: camera)
  }()

  var observation: NSKeyValueObservation?
  var location: CLLocation? {
    didSet {
      guard oldValue == nil, let firstLocation = location else { return }
      mapView.camera = GMSCameraPosition(target: firstLocation.coordinate, zoom: 14)
    }
  }

  override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    mapView.delegate = self
    mapView.settings.compassButton = true
    mapView.settings.myLocationButton = true
    mapView.isMyLocationEnabled = true
    view = mapView

    // Listen to the myLocation property of GMSMapView.
    observation = mapView.observe(\.myLocation, options: [.new]) {
      [weak self] mapView, _ in
      self?.location = mapView.myLocation
    }
  }

  deinit {
    observation?.invalidate()
  }
}

extension MyLocationViewController: GMSMapViewDelegate {
  func mapView(_ mapView: GMSMapView, didTapMyLocation location: CLLocationCoordinate2D) {
    let alert = UIAlertController(
      title: "Location Tapped",
      message: "Current location: <\(location.latitude), \(location.longitude)>",
      preferredStyle: .alert)
    alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: .default))
    present(alert, animated: true)
  }
}
MyLocationViewController.swift

Objective-C

#import "GoogleMapsDemos/Samples/MyLocationViewController.h"

#import <GoogleMaps/GoogleMaps.h>

@implementation MyLocationViewController {
  GMSMapView *_mapView;
  BOOL _firstLocationUpdate;
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
  [super viewDidLoad];
  GMSCameraPosition *camera = [GMSCameraPosition cameraWithLatitude:-33.868
                                                          longitude:151.2086
                                                               zoom:12];

  _mapView = [GMSMapView mapWithFrame:CGRectZero camera:camera];
  _mapView.delegate = self;
  _mapView.settings.compassButton = YES;
  _mapView.settings.myLocationButton = YES;

  // Listen to the myLocation property of GMSMapView.
  [_mapView addObserver:self
             forKeyPath:@"myLocation"
                options:NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew
                context:NULL];

  self.view = _mapView;

  // Ask for My Location data after the map has already been added to the UI.
  GMSMapView *mapView = _mapView;
  dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
    mapView.myLocationEnabled = YES;
  });
}

- (void)mapView:(GMSMapView *)mapView didTapMyLocation:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)location {
  NSString *message = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"My Location Dot Tapped at: [lat: %f, lng: %f]",
                                                 location.latitude, location.longitude];
  UIAlertController *alertController =
      [UIAlertController alertControllerWithTitle:@"Location Tapped"
                                          message:message
                                   preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleAlert];
  UIAlertAction *okAction = [UIAlertAction actionWithTitle:@"OK"
                                                     style:UIAlertActionStyleDefault
                                                   handler:^(UIAlertAction *action){
                                                   }];
  [alertController addAction:okAction];
  [self presentViewController:alertController animated:YES completion:nil];
}

- (void)dealloc {
  [_mapView removeObserver:self forKeyPath:@"myLocation" context:NULL];
}

#pragma mark - KVO updates

- (void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
                      ofObject:(id)object
                        change:(NSDictionary *)change
                       context:(void *)context {
  if (!_firstLocationUpdate) {
    // If the first location update has not yet been received, then jump to that location.
    _firstLocationUpdate = YES;
    CLLocation *location = [change objectForKey:NSKeyValueChangeNewKey];
    _mapView.camera = [GMSCameraPosition cameraWithTarget:location.coordinate zoom:14];
  }
}

@end
MyLocationViewController.m

Run the full sample app locally

The Maps SDK for iOS sample app is available as a download archive from GitHub. Follow these steps to install and try the Maps SDK for iOS sample app.

  1. Run git clone https://github.com/googlemaps-samples/maps-sdk-for-ios-samples.git to clone the samples repository into a local directory.

  2. Open a terminal window, navigate to the directory where you cloned the sample files, and drill down into the GoogleMaps directory:

    Swift

    cd maps-sdk-for-ios-samples/GoogleMaps-Swift
pod install
open GoogleMapsSwiftXCFrameworkDemos.xcworkspace

    Objective-C

    cd maps-sdk-for-ios-samples-main/GoogleMaps
pod install
open GoogleMapsDemos.xcworkspace
  3. In Xcode, press the compile button to build the app with 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. Get an API key from your project with the Maps SDK for iOS enabled.
  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. In the SDKConstants.swift file (Swift) orSDKDemoAPIKey.h file (Objective-C), 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.