Overview

AI-generated Key Takeaways

• The Places SDK for Android allows you to build location-aware apps that utilize Google's database of local place and business information.

• You can choose between the Places SDK for Android and the Places SDK for Android (New), each with its own features and pricing model.

• Key functionalities include Place Autocomplete, Current Place, Place Details, Text Search, Place Photos, and Place IDs to enrich user experiences.

• Before using the SDK, you need a project with a billing account and the Places API enabled, along with adhering to Google Maps Platform Terms of Service.

• Ensure your app displays relevant attributions when presenting information sourced from the Places SDK for Android.

Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript Web Service

European Economic Area (EEA) developers

If your billing address is in the European Economic Area, effective on 8 July 2025, the Google Maps Platform EEA Terms of Service will apply to your use of the Services. Functionality varies by region. Learn more.

Before you begin: Before you start using the Places SDK for Android, you need a project with a billing account and the Places API enabled. We recommend creating multiple Project Owners and Billing Administrators, so that you'll always have someone with these roles available to your team. To learn more, see Set up in Cloud console.

Introduction

The Places SDK for Android lets you build location-aware apps that respond contextually to the local businesses and other places near the user's device. This means you can build rich apps based on places that mean something to the user, to complement the straightforward geographic-based services offered by the Android location services.

Note: Places SDK (New) is the current version of Places SDK for Android. Places SDK is now Legacy and can no longer be enabled. Legacy documentation and migration guides are available on the Legacy tab.

Concepts

The following interfaces provide the primary entry points to the Places SDK for Android:

• Places provides programmatic access to Google's database of local place and business information, as well as the device's current place.
• Autocomplete provides pre-made widgets to return place predictions in response to user search queries.

A place is defined as a physical space that has a name. Another way of thinking about a place is that it's anything you can find on a map. Examples include local businesses, points of interest, and geographic locations. In the API, a place is represented by the Place interface. It includes information such as the name of the place and its address, geographical location, place ID, phone number, place type, website URL, and more.

Note: Whenever your app displays information about places sourced from the Places SDK for Android, the app must also show all relevant attributions that are returned by the API. See the documentation on displaying attributions.

API overview

Help your customers explore where they are and what's around them:

• Place Autocomplete automatically fills in the name and/or address of a place as users type.
• Place Details return and display more detailed information about a place.
• Nearby Search returns a list of places based on a location and a search radius.
• Place Photos returns high-quality images of a place.
• Text Search returns places based on a search text string.
• Place IDs store the unique ID for one or more places for retrieval of place information on demand.

Note: Google gathers anonymous usage statistics.

Policies and Terms

All applications that use the Places SDK for Android must adhere to the requirements described in the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service, Usage and Billing, and Displaying Attributions.