Customize markers

Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript

Before you customize markers (or polylines), you first need to initialize the UI customization options.

Initialize UI customization options

The recommended callback used to initially set the UI customization options is declared in the GMTCMapViewDelegate. The mapViewDidInitialize callback is triggered when the GMTCMapView object is ready to render the map. The style coordinator is initialized, but no UI elements are present.

Swift

/** ViewController.swift */

class ViewController: UIViewController, GMTCMapViewDelegate {

  // MARK: - GMTCMapViewDelegate

  func mapViewDidInitialize(_ mapview: GMTCMapView) {
    // Set the UI customization options here.
  }
}

Objective-C

/** ViewController.m */

@interface ViewController () <GMTCMapViewDelegate>

#pragma mark GMTCMapViewDelegate

- (void)mapViewDidInitialize:(GMTCMapView *)mapview {
  // Set the UI customization options here.
}

Customize markers

The following example uses the GMTCMapView for customizing marker styles. To set the marker type and its properties, use setMarkerStyleOptions(_:markerType:). Your custom marker options override the default values provided by the Consumer SDK.

Swift

/** MapViewController.swift */

func updateMarkerUIOptions() {
  let customizableMarkerType = GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripVehicle
  let markerStyleOptions = GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions()
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = groundAnchor
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = true
  markerStyleOptions.icon = icon
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = false
  let coordinator = self.mapView.consumerMapStyleCoordinator
  coordinator.setMarkerStyleOptions(markerStyleOptions, markerType: customizableMarkerType)
}

/** To restore the default values, call setMarkerStyleOptions(_:markerType:) using nil for the GMTCMarkerStyleOptions parameter.
Here is an example of retrieving the active GMTCMarkerStyleOptions. */

private func retrieveMarkerStyle(markerType: GMTCCustomizableMarkerType) {
  let styleCoordinator = mapView.consumerMapStyleCoordinator

  // The 'markerStyleOptions' contains the stored style options for this marker type.
  let markerStyleOptions = styleCoordinator.markerStyleOptions(for: markerType)
}

Objective-C


/** MapViewController.m */

- (void)updateMarkerUIOptions {
  // The marker type that you would like to set custom UI options for.
  GMTCCustomizableMarkerType customizableMarkerType = GMTCCustomizableMarkerTypeTripVehicle;

  GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions *markerStyleOptions =
      [[GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions alloc] init];
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = groundAnchor;
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = YES;
  markerStyleOptions.icon = icon;
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100;
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = NO;

  [[_mapView consumerMapStyleCoordinator] setMarkerStyleOptions:markerStyleOptions markerType:customizableMarkerType];
}

/** To restore the default values, call setMarkerStyleOptions:markerStyleOptions:markerType: using nil for the GMTCMarkerStyleOptions parameter.
Here is an example of retrieving the active GMTCMarkerStyleOptions. */

- (void)retrieveMarkerStyle:(GMTCCustomizableMarkerType)markerType {
  GMTCConsumerMapStyleCoordinator *styleCoordinator = _mapView.consumerMapStyleCoordinator;

  // The 'markerStyleOptions' contains the stored style options for this marker type.
  GMTCMarkerStyleOptions *markerStyleOptions = [styleCoordinator markerStyleOptionsForType:markerType];
}

Marker types

You can customize the following markers:

  • GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.unknown
  • GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripPickupPoint
  • GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripDropoffPoint
  • GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripVehicle
  • GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.intermediateDestination

Use GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripPickupPoint, GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.intermediateDestination, and GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripDropoffPoint to customize waypoints when sharing a trip.

Use GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripVehicle to customize the vehicle icon when sharing a trip. The marker icon does not change according to the actual vehicle type for the trip.

Marker options

The customizable properties available for each marker are a subset of the properties provided by Google Maps MarkerOptions. The Consumer SDK GMTCMarkerStyleOptions have the following traits:

  • Built using an initializer
  • Immutable once constructed.
  • Have default values, so you only need to specify any custom values.

You can customize the following properties:

  • groundAnchor
  • isVisible: To turn off a marker, set isVisible to false. Enough data should be provided to allow you to use your own UI element in its place.
  • iconView
  • icon
  • zIndex
  • isFlat

Example

Swift

/** MapViewController.swift */

private func updateMarkerUIOptions() {
  // Get the GMTCConsumerMapStyleCoordinator
  let consumerMapStyleCoordinator = mapView.consumerMapStyleCoordinator

  // The marker type that you would like to set custom UI options for.
  let customizableMarkerType = GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripVehicle

  // Initializing marker options.
  let markerStyleOptions = GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions()
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = kGMSMarkerDefaultGroundAnchor
  markerStyleOptions.icon = icon
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = false
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = true

  consumerMapStyleCoordinator.setMarkerStyleOptions(markerStyleOptions, markerType: customizableMarkerType)

  // Reset marker options to default values.
  consumerMapStyleCoordinator.setMarkerStyleOptions(nil, markerType: customizableMarkerType)
}

Objective-C

/** MapViewController.m */

- (void)updateMarkerUIOptions {
  // Get the GMTCConsumerMapStyleCoordinator
  GMTCConsumerMapStyleCoordinator *consumerMapStyleCoordinator = [_mapView consumerMapStyleCoordinator];

  // The marker type that you would like to set custom UI options for.
  GMTCCustomizableMarkerType customizableMarkerType = GMTCCustomizableMarkerTypeTripVehicle;

  // Initializing marker options.
  GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions *markerStyleOptions =
      [[GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions alloc] init];
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = kGMSMarkerDefaultGroundAnchor;
  markerStyleOptions.icon = icon;
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100;
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = NO;
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = YES;

  [consumerMapStyleCoordinator setMarkerStyleOptions:markerStyleOptions markerType:customizableMarkerType];

  // Reset marker options to default values.
  [consumerMapStyleCoordinator setMarkerStyleOptions:nil markerType:customizableMarkerType];
}

Dynamic ETA updates for pickup markers

To create a pickup marker that dynamically shows the updated ETA periodically, update the marker style options for GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripPickupPoint.

Example

Swift

/** MapViewController.swift */

/// Updates the ETA every minute by creating a Timer that repeats every minute.
private func schedulePickupMarkerStyleUpdates() {
  Timer.scheduledTimer(
    timeInterval: 60.0,  // Update marker ETA every minute.
    target: self,
    selector: #selector(updatePickupMarkerETA),
    userInfo: nil,
    repeats: true)
}

/// Updates the marker options for GMTCCustomizableMarkerType.tripPickupPoint for the current time.
@objc private func updatePickupMarkerETA() {
  let consumerMapStyleCoordinator = mapView.consumerMapStyleCoordinator
  let previousOptions = consumerMapStyleCoordinator.markerStyleOptions(for: .tripPickupPoint)

  // Get updated ETA icon.
  let updatedETAIcon = pickupIconForCurrentTime()

  let markerStyleOptions = GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions()
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = kGMSMarkerDefaultGroundAnchor
  markerStyleOptions.icon = updatedETAIcon
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = false
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = true

  consumerMapStyleCoordinator.setMarkerStyleOptions(markerStyleOptions, markerType: .tripPickupPoint)
}

Objective-C

/** MapViewController.m */

/** Updates the ETA every minute by creating an NSTimer that repeats every minute. */
- (void)schedulePickupMarkerStyleUpdates {
  [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:60.0 // Update marker ETA every minute.
                                   target:self
                                 selector:@selector(updatePickupMarkerETA)
                                 userInfo:nil
                                  repeats:YES];
}

/** Updates the marker options for GMTCCustomizableMarkerTypeTripPickupPoint for the current time. */
- (void)updatePickupMarkerETA {
  GMTCConsumerMapStyleCoordinator *consumerMapStyleCoordinator = [_mapView consumerMapStyleCoordinator];
  GMTCMarkerStyleOptions *previousOptions = [consumerMapStyleCoordinator markerStyleOptionsForType:GMTCCustomizableMarkerTypeTripPickupPoint];

  // Get updated ETA icon.
  UIImage *updatedETAIcon = [self pickupIconForCurrentTime];

  GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions *markerStyleOptions =
                               [[GMTCMutableMarkerStyleOptions alloc] init];
  markerStyleOptions.groundAnchor = kGMSMarkerDefaultGroundAnchor;
  markerStyleOptions.icon = updatedETAIcon;
  markerStyleOptions.zIndex = 100;
  markerStyleOptions.isFlat = NO;
  markerStyleOptions.isVisible = YES;

  [consumerMapStyleCoordinator setMarkerStyleOptions:markerStyleOptions markerType:GMTCCustomizableMarkerTypeTripPickupPoint];
}

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