The API picker lists the most common things you may want to do on a map or with location-based data, and suggests the API that best suits your needs. For details about each API, follow the links to the related documentation.
| What do you want to do? | Useful APIs: |
|---|---|
| Add a map to an Android app. Optionally support map gestures for tilt, rotate, zoom and pan, with full control over the map's 3D camera. | |
| Add a map to an iOS app. Optionally support map gestures for tilt, rotate, zoom and pan, with full control over the map's 3D camera. | |
| Add a map to a web page. Customize the map with your own data and imagery. Optionally support map controls, as well as gestures on the mobile web. | |
Add a map to a web page
via a simple HTTP request consisting of just a URL and
parameters. Useful in blogs and other places where you can't add
<script> tags.
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| Add a Local Context map to a web page. The Local Context map is a simple and flexible UI widget that shows users key places of interest near a location that you specify. The Local Context Library consists of an interactive map with a side panel containing a place chooser consisting of a gallery of photos. You can filter the list of places based on type, provide driving directions, and customize the visual appearance of the widget. | |
| Draw a route on a map. |
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| Draw a route between two or more specified points on the map showing the distance and travel time, using various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling, public transit, and flying. | |
| Get directions data from origin to destination using various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling, public transit. |
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| Visualize features and arbitrary data on a map. |
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| Use a heatmap to visualize the intensity of data at geographical points, using graded colors. Examples of such data include population density, temperature, traffic congestion, and more. |
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| Visualize KML data on a map. |
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| Visualize GeoRSS data on a map. | |
| Draw polygons, rectangles, polylines, circles, markers, and info windows (popups) on a map. |
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| Provide a graphical interface with tools for users to draw on the map. |
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| Add an image to a map, as an overlay at a specified location. |
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| Add interactive Street View panoramas to your application, set the location of the panorama, manipulate the Street View camera (point of view), and more. |
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| Display a static Street View panorama. | |
| Perform spherical geometry computations to calculate angles, heading, distances and areas, from latitudes and longitudes. |
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| Encode a sequence of latitude/longitude coordinates (LatLngs) into an encoded path string, and decode an encoded path string into a sequence of LatLngs. |
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| Open the Google Maps app on iOS, Android, or web, via a URL. This is a handy way to launch Google Maps from an app, an email message, or a web page. For example, launch the Maps app with a directions request, to give your users access to turn-by-turn navigation. | |
| Customize the look of a map. |
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| Use vector-based images to add predefined and custom shapes to markers and polylines on a map, using SVG path notation. Examples of such shapes are arrows, dashed lines, custom paths and symbols animated along a path. | |
| Show public transport routes on a map. |
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| Show cycle routes on a map. |
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| Show current traffic conditions on a map. |
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| Find the latitude/longitude coordinates for a given address (geocoding), or convert the latitude/longitude coordinates of a geographic location to an address (reverse geocoding). |
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| Find the maximum zoom level for satellite imagery at a specific location. |
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| Find nearby businesses and other places, or search for places by place type or with a query string. |
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| Get the name, address, opening hours, and other details of a place, including customer ratings and reviews. |
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| Add the type-ahead search behavior of the Google Maps search field to your app. |
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| Autofill an address form. |
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| Provide extensive details about places: names and addresss, their latitude/longitude coordinates, the place types (night club, store, museum), and more. | |
| Find photos of businesses and other points of interest, sourced from the Places and Google+ databases. |
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| Display search results for the visible region on a map, including nearby businesses and other places. | |
| Get a location and accuracy radius based on information about cell towers and WiFi nodes that a mobile client can detect. Useful when GPS is not available, for example. |
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| Get businesses or other places where the device is currently located. |
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| Display a fixed image of a map, and optionally add markers, polygons, rectangles, polylines, circles and customized styling. This is useful, for example, if you don't need an interactive map and want to optimize performance and size. | |
| Calculate the travel distance and travel time for multiple origins and destinations, optionally specifying various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling. |
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| Find height above sea level and depth of locations on the ocean floor. |
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| Find the time zone name, time offset data and daylight saving time for a location. |
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| Determine the speed limit for a section of road. |
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| Determine the roads on which a vehicle traveled. Snap a set of GPS coordinates to the most likely road the vehicle was traveling, or find the nearest road segments. |
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