Get started

Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript

Follow these steps to get set up with data-driven styling for datasets.

Get an API key and enable APIs

Before using data-driven styling for datasets, you need: Cloud project with a billing account, and both the Maps SDK for Android and the Maps Datasets API enabled. To learn more, see:

• Set up your Google Cloud project

• Enable Maps SDK for Android and get an API key

• Enable the Maps Datasets API

Enable the new maps renderer

An upgraded map renderer is available as of version 18.0.0 of the Maps SDK for Android. This renderer brings many improvements, including support for Cloud-based maps styling, to Maps SDK for Android.

With the release of version 18.2.0 of the Maps SDK for Android, Google switched the default renderer from the legacy renderer to the upgraded map renderer. This change means that the upgraded map renderer is now used by default in your app when you build a new app or rebuild an existing app.

Caution: To use data-driven styling for datasets in your app, your app must be built using the upgraded map renderer. If you are adding data-driven styling for datasets to an existing app, rebuild the app to use the upgraded map renderer. For more information, see New Map Renderer.

Create a map ID

To create a new map ID, follow the steps at Create a map ID. Be sure to set the Map type to Android.

Create a new map style

To create a new map style, follow the instructions in Create and use map styles to create the style, and associate the style with the map ID you just created.

Update your map initialization code

This step requires the map ID you just created. It can be found on your Maps Management page.

To add the map ID to your initialization code, see Add the map ID to your app.

Check map capabilities (required)

Data-driven styling for datasets requires a map ID. If the map ID is missing, or an invalid map ID is passed, data-driven styling for datasets cannot load. As a troubleshooting step, you can use MapCapabilities to check if data-driven styling for datasets is supported.

Caution: Some devices might not support the new map renderer and therefore cannot display data-driven styling for datasets. You must use MapCapabilities to check for support at runtime. If data-driven styling for datasets is not supported, define a fallback option. For device requirements for the new map renderer, see Supported devices.

Kotlin

val capabilities: MapCapabilities = googleMap.getMapCapabilities()
System.out.println("Data-driven Styling is available: " + capabilities.isDataDrivenStylingAvailable())

Java

MapCapabilities capabilities = googleMap.getMapCapabilities();
System.out.println("Data-driven Styling is available: " + capabilities.isDataDrivenStylingAvailable());

Next steps

• Create and manage a dataset