Android Place Picker API

Hello guys, today we gonna learn one of the greatest API for android provide by Google is called Place Picker API. This API is used to Pick Place from Google Maps Application without any Map Integration. 

The PlacePicker provides a UI dialog that displays an interactive map and a list of nearby places, including places corresponding to geographical addresses and local businesses. Users can choose a place, and your app can then retrieve the details of the selected place. 

Project Setup

You should follow the steps as proceeded below

Step 1 - Get Your SHA1 Key

For using Google Places API, We need to know SHA1 Key, which is used in Google Developer Console. You can get your SHA1 Key using Command Prompt.

keytool -list -v -keystore "%USERPROFILE%\.android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey -storepass android -keypass android

Step 2 - Enable Google Places API in Developer Console

1. Open Google Console Site.
2. Create New Project or You can use your Existing Project.
3. Go to Dashboard and click Enable API.
4. Click Google Places API for Android and Select Enable 
5. Create new API Key, which is used later.

Step 3 - Coding Part

1. Add google play service library dependency in your app level build.gradle file. Here, I used the following dependency. You can change as per your Android SDK.

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:9.2.0'

2. Put your API key in the AndroidManifest.xml file in this way inside the Application tag.

<meta-data
    android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
    android:value="Your_API_Key"/>

you also need to have these permissions declared in your manifest file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

3. Add the following snippets in your Activity/Fragment.

• Declare Google API Client

private GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient;
private int PLACE_PICKER_REQUEST = 1;

• In the onCreate method of the Activity initialize the GoogleApiClient.

mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient
                .Builder(this)
                .addApi(Places.GEO_DATA_API)
                .addApi(Places.PLACE_DETECTION_API)
                .enableAutoManage(this, this)
                .build();

Implement the onStart and OnStop method and do the client connection task.

@Override
protected void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    mGoogleApiClient.connect();
}

@Override
protected void onStop() {
    mGoogleApiClient.disconnect();
    super.onStop();
}

Start Place Picker Intent using the following snippet.

PlacePicker.IntentBuilder builder = new PlacePicker.IntentBuilder();
try {
    startActivityForResult(builder.build(MainActivity.this), PLACE_PICKER_REQUEST);
} catch (GooglePlayServicesRepairableException | GooglePlayServicesNotAvailableException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

After this, you will get Google Maps Screen like below. It has an interactive map and a list of nearby places, including places corresponding to geographical addresses and local businesses. Users can choose a place, and your app can then retrieve the details of the selected place.

Place Picker Map Screen 

The Details can be retrieved in OnActivityResultMethod of your Activity.

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    if (requestCode == PLACE_PICKER_REQUEST) {
        if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            Place place = PlacePicker.getPlace(data, this);
            StringBuilder stBuilder = new StringBuilder();
            String placename = String.format("%s", place.getName());
            String latitude = String.valueOf(place.getLatLng().latitude);
            String longitude = String.valueOf(place.getLatLng().longitude);
            String address = String.format("%s", place.getAddress());
            stBuilder.append("Name: ");
            stBuilder.append(placename);
            stBuilder.append("\n");
            stBuilder.append("Latitude: ");
            stBuilder.append(latitude);
            stBuilder.append("\n");
            stBuilder.append("Logitude: ");
            stBuilder.append(longitude);
            stBuilder.append("\n");
            stBuilder.append("Address: ");
            stBuilder.append(address);
            tvPlaceDetails.setText(stBuilder.toString());
        }
    }
}

The Following Screenshot shows the result of Place Picker API

Place Picker Dialog 

Result Screen

Download Code:

You can download the full source from the following Github link. If you Like this tutorial, Please star it in Github.
    
Download From Github
Post your doubts and comments in the comments section.